LEBANON, Ill. – For the second straight time, a game between Missouri S&T and McKendree came down to the final play and again, it was the Miners who came away with the victory as S&T pulled out a 37-31 Great Lakes Valley Conference win over the Bearcats at Leemon Field.

Gideon Niboh's (St. Charles, MO/Francis Howell) 12-yard touchdown run with 1:40 left broke a 31-all tie, but the Miner defense needed to make two stops down the stretch to secure the win.  S&T (4-4, 2-2 GLVC) forced the Bearcats (3-5, 2-2 GLVC) to surrender the ball on downs when CJ Hedgepeth (Evansville, IN/Harrison) broke up a pass intended for Jacob Bachman that would have given McKendree a first down inside the Miner 25-yard line with 54 seconds to go.

S&T took two kneeldowns and had Niboh run on third down to force the Bearcats to use their remaining timeouts, but the Miners had to snap the ball one more time on fourth down with three seconds to go.  Quarterback Luke Hertzler (St. Louis, MO/Parkway North) rolled to his left and slid down as the clock hit zero, but the officials put one second back on the clock as the ball went over to the Bearcats on downs at S&T's 24-yard line.

McKendree's Turner Pullen threw a ball to the back of the end zone that went incomplete, but S&T was called for pass interference to move the ball to the 12.  But Pullen, under pressure from the Miner defense, threw his last pass over the head of tight end Jace Kennedy to end the game.

It was a game where the Miners jumped out to a two-touchdown lead in the first quarter, fell behind by halftime, but regained the lead in the second half before putting together the winning drive after McKendree had tied the game late in the third quarter.

S&T moved on top when Aaron Moya (Canutillo, TX/Canutillo) completed a 42-yard scoring drive by diving over from the one, then extended its lead when Hertzler scored on a quarterback sneak from the one with 2:11 to play in the opening quarter.  McKendree answered with 17 straight points, starting with Kaleb Barry's 29-yard field goal on the second play of the second period.

The Bearcats then put together back-to-back scoring drives, as Pullen threw a 17-yard scoring pass to Steven Towns to complete the first one and then hit Tyler Siever on a 29-yard touchdown throw to give McKendree its first lead of the contest.

That lead was short lived, as two plays after S&T got the ball back, Josh Brown (Gainesville, FL/North Marion HS) got behind the Bearcat secondary and caught a 54-yard touchdown pass from Hertzler to put the Miners back into the lead.  However, McKendree grabbed the lead before halftime when Pullen engineered a 76-yard scoring drive that he completed with a one-yard scoring run.

When the second half began, however, the Miner defense and running game started coming to the forefront.

The defense opened the half by stopping McKendree on a fourth-and-one near midfield, then after an interception halted S&T's first possession of the half, Stefan Camplin (Raytown, MO/Raytown) stripped the ball from Bachman and made the recovery at the Bearcat 35-yard line.

S&T turned that turnover into points, as Niboh had a 14-yard run for a first down after a sack on first down and Brown went 22 yards on an end around to set up Hertzler's second scoring run of the game that put S&T up 28-24.

Moments later, Jordan Gomez (Dallas, TX/White) intercepted a pass deep in Miner territory that ricocheted off Siever's shoulder and a 64-yard run by Niboh put the Miners in a position for Zach Glaess (Queen Creek, AZ/Queen Creek) to add to the S&T lead with a 27-yard field goal.

McKendree tied the game just before the third quarter ended when Pullen lofted a pass downfield that appeared as if it was going to be intercepted, but Towns jumped in front of the S&T defender to haul in the pass and take it to the end zone.

The Bearcats had a chance to take the lead early in the fourth quarter, but Jamie Gott (Marion, IL/Marion) blocked Barry's 32-yard field goal attempt to keep the game tied.  S&T then embarked on a drive that started at its own 20 and reached the McKendree six, but a fumble on the snap was recovered by the Bearcats to end that chance.

But after picking up a couple of first downs, Pullen was intercepted by Cameron Clemons (St. Louis, MO/Lutheran North) at midfield in front of the S&T bench and he returned it to McKendree 23 with 2:54 to play.  Niboh, who finished with a career-high 173 yards, carried the ball on the next three plays with the last of them ending up in the end zone for the go-ahead score.

The Miners were outgained on the afternoon by a 566-to-402 margin – mainly due to the 408 yards Pullen threw for – but S&T finished with 257 yards on the ground.  Moya added 63 yards rushing and Kai Martin (Clearwater, FL/Calvary Christian) came up with 35, including a 31-yard run in the fourth quarter.

Hertzler completed 12-of-22 passes in the game for 145 yards, with Brown hauling in six for 95 yards and the touchdown.

Linebacker Dontay White (Florissant, MO/Hazelwood Central) led the Miners with nine tackles on the afternoon, while Camplin recorded eight.  Clemons had four pass breakups to go along with his interception, while Carson Prenger (Jefferson City, MO/Blair Oaks) also had a pick for S&T.

The Miners will return home for their last two home games of the season, beginning with next Saturday's clash against Indianapolis at 1 p.m. at Allgood-Bailey Stadium.