ROLLA, Mo. – Missouri S&T will look for its second consecutive win to start the 2021 spring football season on Saturday as it plays the first of its two home games at Allgood-Bailey Stadium against Southwest Baptist.  Kickoff for Saturday's contest will be at 7 p.m.

The Miners rallied from a 14-point halftime deficit to beat William Jewell in their season opener last Saturday, scoring 35 unanswered points in the second half to win the contest 49-28.  The Miners racked up 532 yards of total offense in the game and had 302 of them on the ground, posting their highest rushing total in a game since the final contest of the 2017 campaign.

Aaron Moya (Canutillo, TX/Canutillo), the Great Lakes Valley Conference's Offensive Player of the Week, ran for a career-high 143 yards and scored two touchdowns in the win, while Payton McAlister (Decatur, TX/Decatur) had 131 yards and scored the go-ahead touchdown in the third quarter.  It marked the first time since that aforementioned 2017 game that two Miners had cleared the 100-yard mark in the same contest.

Quarterback Brennan Simms (Punta Gorda, FL/Charlotte), who is on the cusp of reaching the top 10 in a handful of passing categories, completed 23-of-33 passes in the game for 230 yards and two scores, with three receivers – Josh Brown (Gainesville, FL/North Marion HS), Tate Nickleberry (Columbia, MO/Rock Bridge) and McAlister – all hauling in six passes apiece.  Simms connected on 12 of his 13 pass attempts in the second half.

The Miners also had the GLVC's Defensive Player of the Week in Justin Onwugbufor (Wichita, KS/Northwest), who had a hand in the key defensive play of the game as he returned a fumble 93 yards for a touchdown as the Cardinals were driving for a potential game-tying score early in the fourth quarter.  Onwugbufor made seven tackles from his safety position, one fewer than linebacker Jack Hayes (Republic, MO/Republic) and cornerback Cameron Orr (Mansfield, TX/Lake Ridge), while Ben Straatmann (Washington, MO/Washington) had seven stops as well.

S&T's defense also recorded five quarterback sacks in Saturday's win.

ABOUT SOUTHWEST BAPTIST: The Bearcats opened their spring schedule with a 38-20 home loss to Truman State on April 1, as the Bulldogs scored 31 unanswered points after SBU had taken a 13-7 lead midway through the first quarter.  The Bearcats finished the 2019 season with a record of 3-8 and went 1-6 in the Great Lakes Valley Conference.  SBU was outscored 176-27 over its final three contests of the 2019 campaign, a stretch that included a 62-0 loss at Missouri S&T.

Quarterback Cooper Callis, a transfer from Fullerton College, completed 29-of-38 passes for 376 yards and three touchdowns in the opener; the 376 yards were the most by any GLVC passer in week one.  Curtis Culliard caught two of Callis' three scoring passes and had nine receptions for 101 yards in the game.

The Bearcats struggled to get their ground game going against Truman as they accumulated only 43 net yards rushing.  Abel Carter had 20 yards to lead the way and Bryce Cabrera had 13, as SBU averaged just over two yards per carry on its 21 attempts on the ground.

On the defensive side, safety Bryton Lewi had 10 tackles to lead the Bearcats and also forced a fumble in the game, while Aaron Harris and Brenden Smith each made an interception.  Truman State finished with 474 yards of total offense in the contest of which 253 came on the ground.