LIBERTY, Mo. – Trailing by 14 at the half, Missouri S&T outscored William Jewell 35-0 in the second half to win its 2021 spring football opener Saturday night by a 49-28 count over the Cardinals.

The Miners scored on their first four offensive possessions of the second half and also got a key defensive score along the way as they won a season opener on the road for the first time since 2011.

After committing three turnovers in the first half and struggling to keep Cardinal quarterback Will Schneider under wraps, the Miners went to the ground game offensively and shut down the Jewell offense in the second half in taking control over the final 30 minutes.

S&T got the ball to begin the second half and drove 60 yards – 43 of which came on the ground – and drew to within seven when quarterback Brennan Simms (Punta Gorda, FL/Charlotte) crashed over the goal line from the two.  The Miners then got the ball back just over two minutes later and evened the score when Aaron Moya (Canutillo, TX/Canutillo) scored on a three-yard run and Zach Glaess (Queen Creek, AZ/Queen Creek) converted the extra point.

Jewell got into Miner territory on its next possession, but committed its first turnover of the game when CJ Hedgepeth (Evansville, IN/Harrison) picked off a Schneider pass to set up the Miners' go-ahead scoring drive.  Again, S&T used its ground game to do the bulk of the damage as it gained 62 of its 72 yards that way, the last 37 coming from Payton McAlister (Decatur, TX/Decatur) to put the Miners into the lead.

Schneider again moved his team into the Miners' end of the field when Jewell got the ball and his 17-yard run, plus a penalty on the Miners, put the ball at the S&T six-yard line.  However, Schneider was shaken up on the play and was replaced by Anthony Pritzel and on his first play, he rolled to his left and had the ball knocked away by Justin Onwugbufor (Wichita, KS/Northwest), who picked up the loose ball and raced 93 yards for a touchdown to suddenly give the Miners a two-touchdown advantage.

The fumble return also allowed the Miners to extend a streak, as S&T made a return for a touchdown for the 16^th consecutive season.

S&T got another score later in the fourth quarter to close out a drive that took close to six minutes off the clock, concluding with Simms' second scoring pass of the game of nine yards to Aundray Henley (Miami, FL/Flanagan).

The contest started with the Miners stopping the Cardinals just inside of midfield on the first possession of the game, but muffed the ball while fielding the punt and gave Jewell the ball back at the S&T 26-yard line.  The Cardinals drove down to the two-yard line before Wulfe Retzlaff (Truckee, CA/Truckee) and Onwugbufor stopped Josh Yancey a yard short of a first down to give S&T the ball on downs.

On S&T's first play from scrimmage, Aaron Moya (Canutillo, TX/Canutillo) broke through the line for a 70-yard run to put the Miners into Jewell territory and a short time after a 14-yard run by McAlister got the Miners another first down, Moya went over from the two to put S&T in front.

The Cardinals answered right back with a 75-yard drive with Schneider doing much of the damage both with his legs and his arm.  Schneider completed four passes on the drive for 40 yards and ran for 38 more, which included a run of 27 yards to get into the red zone and an 11-yard carry that tied the game with 2:43 remaining in the opening quarter.

S&T regained the lead early in the second quarter when Simms connected with Josh Brown (Gainesville, FL/North Marion HS) on a 37-yard scoring pass and was set to get the ball back after a quick three-and-out, but another muffed reception gave the ball back to Jewell at the Miner 36.  On the very next play, Schneider threw a touchdown pass to Jalik Jaggwe to tie the game and start a 21-point run by the Cardinals.

Jewell took the lead on Schneider's second touchdown run of the game, a three-yard carry shortly after he completed a third down pass in the flat to Yancey for 64 yards to the Miner four-yard line.  Then following an interception, the Cardinals turned that into points as well and Yancey scored on a seven-yard run to give Jewell a 28-14 lead it would take to halftime.

The Miners finished the game with 528 yards of total offense, with 302 coming on the ground as both Moya and McAlister went over the 100-yard mark.  Moya finished with a career-high 143 yards and McAlister recorded 131, two short of his career high.

Simms threw for 226 yards as he completed 23 of his 33 passes; he was 12-of-13 in the second half.  Brown, McAlister and Tate Nickelberry all had six receptions apiece for S&T.

S&T's defense held the Cardinals to 171 yards in the second half after giving 302 over the first 30 minutes.  Cameron Orr (Mansfield, TX/Lake Ridge) had eight tackles to pace the S&T defense and Jack Hayes (Republic, MO/Republic) had six stops, including one of the Miners' five quarterback sacks in the contest.

Missouri S&T will play its next two contests at home, beginning with next Saturday's 7 p.m. home opener against Southwest Baptist at Allgood-Bailey Stadium.