LIBERTY, Mo. – Missouri S&T's football team got a number of big plays early in Saturday's game and went on to post its highest point output of the season in a 41-14 Great Lakes Valley Conference victory over William Jewell at Greene Stadium.
S&T (3-4, 2-1 GLVC) jumped out to a 21-0 lead in the first quarter – all on touchdowns covering 28 or more yards – as it finished the afternoon with its highest offensive yardage total of the season of 364 while holding the Cardinals (1-6, 0-3 GLVC) to 156 yards, the fewest allowed by the S&T defense this year.
After forcing a punt on William Jewell's first possession, the Miners needed just three plays to reach the end zone. Quarterback
Staton King (Bixby, OK/Bixby) picked up 15 on the ground on the first play, followed by runs of eight and 40 yards by
Cameren Smith (Claymont, DE/Concord) that put S&T into the lead.
Cam Orr (Mansfield, TX/Lake Ridge) picked off a CJ Ward pass on the first play after the Cardinals got the ball back to allow the Miners to set up shop at the Jewell 28-yard line and two plays later, King connected with CJ Jarmon down the middle of the field for a 28-yard scoring pass to give S&T a 14-0 lead with less than five minutes elapsed in the contest.
With the wind at its back in the opening period, S&T reached the end zone once more before the quarter ended as it drove 81 yards for a score, completing the drive when King found a wide open
Blaize Klossner (Rolla, MO/Rolla) in the middle of the field and he raced to the pylon to extend the lead to 21-0 with 45 seconds to play in the opening period.
Jewell used a little trickery to cut into the Miner lead early in the second quarter, as wide receiver Marquis Whitmore took a handoff and was forced to the sideline before throwing a pass that was caught in the end zone by Deldrionn Amos for an 18-yard touchdown. However, S&T had a response as it drove from its own 25 to the end zone again to regain its three-touchdown advantage.
The Miners converted a third-and-15 play on the drive when King hit
Gideon Niboh (St. Charles, MO/Francis Howell) on a swing pass that he took for 18 yards to the Cardinals' seven-yard line, then two plays later, King found Jarmon in the end zone for his second scoring catch of the day.
The Cardinals took advantage of a Miner special teams mistake – a high snap on a punt – that gave them the ball at the S&T 14-yard line, which led to a touchdown throw from Taylor Eggers to Hunter Thomas to cut the Miner lead to 27-14 at the intermission. But early in the third quarter, the Miners got a big special teams play of their own to take complete control of matters in the second half.
Forcing a Jewell punt on its first possession of the second half, Niboh fielded Paul Geelen's punt at his own 40-yard line with room to run and raced through the Cardinals' coverage untouched for a 60-yard touchdown return. The runback was Niboh's second of the season for a touchdown, making him the first Miner in a decade to return two punts for scores in the same season -- the last being Carlton Westbrook in 2012.
The Miner defense shut down the Cardinals from there as they held Jewell to just 46 yards of total offense over the final 30 minutes. S&T would add one more score before the afternoon ended, as
Carter Dace (Sullivan, MO/Sullivan) scored on a one-yard run in the fourth quarter to cap a short scoring drive.
Smith cleared the 100-yard mark on the ground for the second week in succession with 114 yards – 107 of which came in the first half – leading the Miners to a total of 178 yards on the ground. King completed 18-of-29 passes for 186 yards and the three scores, with
Isaiah Wright (Panama City, FL/Port St. Joe) hauling in eight passes for 69 yards to lead S&T in that category.
The Miners also got seven tackles from
Carson Prenger (Jefferson City, MO/Blair Oaks) and six from
Stefan Camplin (Raytown, MO/Raytown), while
Ben Straatmann (Washington, MO/Washington) also had an interception to go along with pick by Orr in the first half.
Missouri S&T will host McKendree for Homecoming next Saturday at Allgood-Bailey Stadium, with the kickoff slated for 1 p.m. The Bearcats fell short in a wild 63-62 loss Saturday to Quincy and will bring a 4-3 record (1-2 GLVC) into next week's game.
