ROLLA, Mo. – Missouri S&T's two-headed rushing attack of Payton McAlister (Decatur, TX/Decatur) and Aaron Moya (Canutillo, TX/Canutillo) shined again on Saturday, as the Miners' running back duo combined for five touchdowns as part of S&T's best rushing performance since 1993 in a 48-34 win over Southwest Baptist at Allgood-Bailey Stadium.

The win improved the Miners to 2-0 in the 2021 spring season and sets up a showdown on Thursday against Truman State at Allgood-Bailey Stadium, where the winner will advance to the Great Lakes Valley Conference championship game on April 24.  Truman won its second straight game Saturday by knocking off William Jewell.

McAlister and Moya both had career nights on the ground, as McAlister finished with 190 yards on just 11 carries and scored twice, while Moya had three touchdown runs as part of a 149-yard performance.  As a team, the Miners ran for 363 yards, the sixth-most in a game in school history and most in a contest since 1993 as they scored all seven of their touchdowns on the ground.

SBU took the initial lead in the contest when Cooper Callis connected with Jordan Kent on a 14-yard scoring pass on a fourth down play, but the Miners answered right back with a 76-yard scoring drive – with 55 of the yards coming on the ground – that culminated in the first of Moya's touchdown runs as he went over from the three to tie the score.

The Miners then took the lead early in the second quarter when quarterback Brennan Simms (Punta Gorda, FL/Charlotte) scored on a four-yard run, only to see the Bearcats respond with a 15-play scoring drive to even things up.  SBU converted twice on fourth down on the drive and got the tying score on a two-yard run by Eric Knight at the 6:36 mark.

But three plays after S&T got the ball back, McAlister raced through the SBU defense for a 46-yard touchdown run to give the Miners the lead again.  However, a high snap on the extra point attempt forced S&T to abort the kick attempt and the extra point failed to keep the lead at six.

Late in the first half, the Miners were forced to punt and Jere Scroggins broke through to block the kick; Kent picked up the loose ball and took it the final 22 yards for a touchdown to give the Bearcats a 21-20 lead that they would take to halftime.

The Miners got the ball to begin the second half and following a 47-yard kickoff return by Gideon Niboh (St. Charles, MO/Francis Howell) that put the ball into SBU territory, Moya raced 41 yards for a touchdown on the first play from scrimmage to put S&T into the lead for good just 19 seconds into the third quarter.  S&T would extend its lead with two more touchdowns before the period ended, getting a 31-yard scoring run from McAlister and a 12-yard touchdown run from Simms to take a 41-21 lead into the fourth quarter.

However, the Bearcats put together a rally in the final quarter, as Callis threw scoring passes of five yards to Curtis Culliard and of 16 yards to Kent to make it a one-score game and then got a three-and-out on defense to get the ball back with 4:19 remaining.

The Miner defense answered the call, forcing the Bearcats to surrender the ball on downs after Aidan Hurtado (Austin, TX/McNeil) and Jack Roush (Columbia, MO/Rock Bridge) combined to sack Callis on fourth down.  S&T then iced the win with 1:47 to play when Moya broke through the line on a third-and-four play and ran 33 yards for his final touchdown of the game.

Missouri S&T finished with 489 yards of total offense as Simms completed 13-of-19 passes for 126 yards; McAlister had four catches for 48 yards to lead six receivers who had catches.  On defense, Justin Onwugbufor (Wichita, KS/Northwest) had 11 tackles to lead S&T and Ben Straatmann (Washington, MO/Washington) finished with 10, while the unit had five quarterback sacks for the second week in a row and also got an interception from CJ Hedgepeth (Evansville, IN/Harrison).

Callis threw for 299 yards and three scores and also ran for 38, while Kent had 143 yards and two touchdowns on his eight receptions.

The Miners' game with Truman State Thursday will begin at 6 p.m.