RAPID CITY, S.D. – Missouri S&T made a furious fourth quarter rally Thursday night, but a flurry of mistakes earlier in the contest proved to be its downfall as South Dakota School of Mines took advantage of those errors to post a 34-31 season opening victory over the Miners.

The Miners committed four turnovers in the game – two of which were returned for scores – and had two kicks blocked, one of which set the Hardrockers up deep in S&T territory and led to a score one play later.

S&T trailed 21-3 at halftime and 34-10 early in the fourth quarter, but rattled off three touchdowns in a span of just over seven minutes to close the gap to three with 3:33 remaining.  The Hardrockers were able to secure the win, though, by picking up a pair of first downs on their next possession to drain much of what was left on the clock.

The loss spoiled a solid effort by the Miner defense, who held South Dakota Mines to 376 total yards and only one additional touchdown that didn't come as a direct result of the miscues, as well as big games by S&T wide receiver Breon Michel (Colorado Springs, CO/Vista Ridge), who hauled in eight passes for a career-high 171 yards and three touchdowns and running back Aaron Moya (Canutillo, TX/Canutillo), who ran for 128 yards and a score.

After both teams committed a turnover on their opening possessions, the Hardrockers drove down the field on their second possession and broke on top when Jayden Johannsen connected with Jeremiah Bridges on an 18-yard scoring pass midway through the first quarter.

The Miners looked to answer back when they got the ball and aided by a pass interference penalty, got the ball to the Hardrocker 24-yard line.  However, on the very next play, the Miners fumbled and Adrian Eastman took it back 71 yards the other way for a score to extend Mines' lead to 14-0.

S&T again moved back down the field late in the first period, but again was doomed by a mistake as Zach Glaess' (Queen Creek, AZ/Queen Creek) 38-yard field goal attempt was blocked just before the quarter ended.  The Miners did get their first points of the game when Glaess hit a 49-yard attempt after the Miners got the ball back, a drive that included a 46-yard run by Payton McAlister (Decatur, TX/Decatur) and a 26-yard gallop by Moya.

The Miner defense got a stop on fourth down with 2:37 to play in the half after the Hardrockers had driven to the S&T 19-yard line, but the offense went three-and out and Mines' Hunter Newsom blocked a punt to give the hosts the ball at the Miner seven.   On the next play, Ahmad Lewis scored to give the Hardrockers a 21-3 lead they would take to the locker room.

On the first play following the second half kickoff, Brennan Simms (Punta Gorda, FL/Charlotte) connected with Michel down the middle of the field for a 65-yard scoring pass to cut into the margin.  But South Dakota Mines was able to add to its lead when Connor Taylor connected on a 46-yard field goal and then forced the Miners into their third turnover of the night and second resulting in a touchdown when Kendahl Johnson picked off a Simms throw and returned it 27 yards to the end zone.

Following a 31-yard field goal by Taylor with 11:53 remaining, Moya raced 47 yards for a touchdown – a run that also put him over the 100-yard mark for the fourth straight game dating back to last season – to trim the Hardrocker lead to 34-17.  Then after a three-and-out by Mines and a shanked punt, Simms hit Michel on the next play for a 40-yard scoring pass to make it a 10-point game with 9:30 left.

The Miners then closed the gap to three when Simms and Michel hooked on their third touchdown of the night, a 25-yard strike that brought S&T to within three with 3:33 to go.  But facing a third-and-one, Lewis was hit behind the line of scrimmage but was able to reach the first down marker to keep the ball with the Hardrockers, then he picked up another first down moments later to force the Miners to use their remaining timeouts on defense.

Missouri S&T finished the game with 538 yards of total offense, the second-most ever in a season opener and ran for 221 in the contest.  Besides the 128 yards accumulated by Moya on the ground and his 222 all-purpose yards, McAlister finished with 68 yards rushing and Josh Brown (Gainesville, FL/North Marion HS) had 94 yards on five receptions. 

Simms completed 21-of-40 passes in the game for 317 yards, 215 of which came in the second half and moved into the top 10 in Miner history for completions with 295, total offense with 3,759 yards and touchdowns with 27 after his three scoring throws on Thursday.  He also moved into eighth place for career passing yards as part of the third 300-yard passing game of his career, as his total now stands at 3,627 yards.

Defensively, the Miners got a game-high 12 tackles from Ben Straatmann (Washington, MO/Washington) and 11 from Justin Onwugbufor (Wichita, KS/Northwest), while Stefan Camplin (Raytown, MO/Raytown) had two of S&T's six pass breakups in the game.

The Miners will host Arkansas Baptist next Saturday in their home opener, beginning at 1 p.m. at Allgood-Bailey Stadium.