BOLIVAR, Mo. – Two weeks after matching their largest rally in school history, Missouri S&T went one step farther on Saturday – and wrapped up its fifth straight winning campaign in the process.

The Miners rallied from a 27-point deficit late in the third quarter by scoring the final 28 points of the game -- the last of them coming with 33 seconds remaining – as S&T came back for a 42-41 season-ending win over Southwest Baptist.  The win came two weeks after the Miners overcame a 21-point hole to knock off Indianapolis.

Luke Hertzler (St. Louis, MO/Parkway North) threw a seven-yard touchdown pass to Blaize Klossner (Rolla, MO/Rolla) right at the goal line to tie the game at 41, then Zach Glaess (Queen Creek, AZ/Queen Creek) converted the extra point to give the Miners the lead for the first time in the contest.  S&T's defense closed out the win by forcing a turnover on a late desperation play by the Bearcats to close the season at 6-5 overall and 4-3 in the Great Lakes Valley Conference.

Before the Miners staged their dramatic rally, very little had gone right for them over the first 40 minutes of the contest.

SBU quarterback Cooper Callis, who entered Saturday's game ranked second in NCAA Division II in passing yards and had 31 touchdown passes, threw two scoring tosses in the first 10 minutes of the game of 13 yards to Cassian Foreman and 23 yards to Jarrett Massie -- possessions that started after a blocked field goal and a fumble by S&T.  Moments after the Massie touchdown catch, Jarvis Funk blocked a Parker Boyce (Hartsburg, MO/Southern Boone) punt – SBU's second blocked kick of the quarter – and Omari Oggs returned it the final 32 yards for a touchdown to give the Bearcats (4-7, 3-4 GLVC) a 20-0 lead.

The Miners got on the scoreboard for the first time with under four minutes remaining in the first half, as Hertzler crashed over from the one to complete a drive that included three runs of 10 yards or better by Payton McAlister (Decatur, TX/Decatur).  SBU answered right back by returning the kickoff into S&T territory and scoring two plays later on a 39-yard scoring pass from Callis to Jordan Kent.

S&T, however, got a big return from Gideon Niboh (St. Charles, MO/Francis Howell) on the ensuing kickoff, setting up the Miners for another scoring drive that culminated when Hertzler connected with Breon Michel (Colorado Springs, CO/Vista Ridge) for a five-yard touchdown pass to trim the lead to 27-14.  But with just a minute to work with, SBU went right back down the field and scored again before halftime on Callis' fourth touchdown pass of the half and second to Kent that covered 26 yards.

The Bearcats extended their lead to 41-14 when Bryce Cabrera scored on a two-yard run with 5:24 to play in the third quarter, then the Miners began their big rally.

On the first drive after the Cabrera touchdown, Hertzler hit Josh Brown (Gainesville, FL/North Marion HS) for 38 yards to get into SBU territory, then an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty on SBU moved the ball to the five-yard line.  Hertzler hit Brown for a touchdown on the next play to get the Miners' scoring run started.

After that score, the Miners forced SBU into a three-and-out with two sacks mixed in, then Ryan Brooks (Jefferson City, MO/Jefferson City) blocked a punt – the ninth blocked kick by S&T this season – to set up a 32-yard Payton McAlister (Decatur, TX/Decatur) touchdown run to bring the Miners back to within 13 with under two minutes to play in the third quarter.

S&T's defense then came up with another big play to cut into the margin even farther, as Cameron Clemons (St. Louis, MO/Lutheran North) picked off a Callis pass and returned it 34 yards to the end zone to make it a 41-35 game with just over nine minutes remaining.

The Bearcats threatened again when they got the ball back as they drove to the S&T 28-yard line, but Clemons struck again as he picked off another pass at the goal line to thwart that opportunity and kickstart the Miners' game-winning drive.

S&T used up most of the remaining 6:25 on the clock on its 16-play, 80-yard march, picking up six first downs along the way.  The Miners converted a third down play early in the drive on a seven-yard run by Niboh, then were faced with a fourth-and-13 with 2:07 left at the SBU 31-yard line, where Hertzler connected with Brown at the Bearcat 13 to keep the possession alive.

Four plays later, S&T was faced with another fourth down play from the seven and needed four yards for the first down.  Hertzler rolled to his right and connected with Klossner in a crowd right at the goal line; the officials conferred after the play and awarded the Miners the game-tying touchdown before Glaess' extra point put S&T into the lead.

Hertzler, playing in his final game as a Miner along with 15 other seniors, completed 22-of-35 passes for 214 yards and three touchdowns; Brown had eight receptions for 116 yards to lead S&T.  The Miners had plenty of success running the ball as they finished with 217 yards on the ground, 166 of which came from McAlister.

Defensively, the Miners were led in tackles by Ben Straatmann (Washington, MO/Washington) with 13, which included 4.5 tackles for a loss and 2.5 sacks.  Those latter numbers allowed him to break the S&T single season records for tackles for a loss with 24 on the year and quarterback sacks with 14.  As a team, the Miners finished with six sacks in the contest.

Clemons had seven tackles and the two interceptions as well as two pass breakups, while Justin Onwugbufor (Wichita, KS/Northwest) had the third S&T interception.

Callis threw for 363 yards and the four touchdowns, but also threw three interceptions – all of them coming in the fourth quarter with the Bearcats trying to hold onto the lead.