KIRKSVILLE, Mo. – Missouri S&T fell into an early hole Saturday afternoon and lost for the first time in Great Lakes Valley Conference play as Truman State handed the Miners a 36-14 loss at Stokes Stadium.
The Bulldogs (4-1, 1-0 GLVC) took advantage of two Miner mistakes in the opening minutes of the contest to take a 10-0 lead in the first seven minutes of play. After Truman stopped the Miners (2-4, 1-1 GLVC) on third-and-one, Mason Huskey blocked a
Parker Boyce (Hartsburg, MO/Southern Boone) punt to set up the Bulldogs at the S&T 12-yard line. That led to a 10-yard scoring pass from Nolan Hair to Tate Crane.
When the Miners got the ball back, Isaiah Estes picked off a
Staton King (Bixby, OK/Bixby) pass and ran it back to the Miner 24-yard line, leading to a 40-yard field goal from Grant Ross.
The Bulldogs would score on all five of their first half possessions, as they reached the end zone late in the first quarter on a three-yard touchdown pass from Collin Sutton to Tanner Lain and early in the second period on a four-yard touchdown run by Shamar Griffith.
After the Griffith touchdown, the Miners put together their best drive of the first half as they drove from their own 38 to the end zone as King completed an 18-yard touchdown pass to
Ryan Langford (Phoenix, AZ/O'Connor) to get on the scoreboard. S&T also converted a two-point conversion as
McKennan Starkey (Troy, MO/Troy Buchanan) ran it in to cut the Bulldog lead to 23-8.
But right before the half ended and with the Bulldogs facing a fourth-and-13 at the S&T 37-yard line, Hair hit Matt Hall in the middle of the field and Hall cut through the Miner defense and crossed the goal line with five seconds to go to give the Bulldogs a 30-8 lead that they would take to halftime.
The Miners held the Bulldogs to 57 total yards in the second half and a pair of field goals – both on drives that started in S&T territory – and got a second touchdown courtesy of a 65-yard touchdown run by
Cameren Smith (Claymont, DE/Concord) early in the fourth quarter.
Smith ran for a career-high 138 yards as the Miners had 143 yards on the ground in the contest. The Bulldogs, who started six of its 11 drives in the game on the Miners' side of the 50-yard line, outgained the Miners by a 272-217 margin.
King completed 14-of-24 passes in the game for 74 yards;
Bryson Burns (Clarksville, TN/Rossview) and
Paulvin Horton (Raleigh, NC/Garner HS) had three receptions each to lead S&T. On the defensive side,
Stefan Camplin (Raytown, MO/Raytown) led the Miners with 11 tackles and
Nick Mattli (O'Fallon, MO/Fort Zumwalt South) recorded eight, while
Ben Straatmann (Washington, MO/Washington) had two sacks and three tackles for a loss among his six stops.
The Miners will remain on the road next week as they face William Jewell in a 1 p.m. game in Liberty, Mo.
