OWENSBORO, Ky. – Missouri S&T's defense put together another solid effort Saturday night, but the offensive unit struggled to gain traction throughout the evening as the Miners dropped a defensive battle to Kentucky Wesleyan by the score of 11-6.
The Panther offense produced a touchdown – set up on an interception on S&T's second play from scrimmage that gave them a short field to work with – a field goal and safety for their 11 points, then held off the Miners in the final minute to drop S&T to 1-2 on the year.
S&T got the opening kickoff and after
Gideon Niboh (St. Charles, MO/Francis Howell) returned it to the Miner 35-yard line, he ran for 15 yards on the first play and the Miners got 15 additional yards on a personal foul penalty. But on the next play, Bryce Yeast picked off a
Max Conard (Blue Springs, MO/Blue Springs South) and took it back to the S&T 29-yard line to put the Panthers in business.
KWC (1-2) got into the end zone five plays later when quarterback Christian Arrambide's pass was deflected by a Miner defender in the end zone, but was caught out of the air by Gordon Anaple for an 18-yard touchdown to give the Panthers the lead.
The Miners blocked the extra point to keep the score at 6-0, then missed good scoring chances throughout the remainder of the first half.
Late in the first quarter, Conard connected with CJ Jarmon for a 37-yard pass play to get the ball to the Panthers' 30-yard line, but on a fourth-and-two, S&T went for it and
Cameren Smith (Claymont, DE/Concord) was stopped a yard shy of the first down marker. A couple of possessions later, the Miners started a drive in KWC territory, but it ended when Conard fumbled while being sacked and the Panthers recovered the fumble.
The Miners had another good chance before the half ended after
Aidan Hurtado (Austin, TX/McNeil) blocked a field goal attempt and
Carson Prenger (Jefferson City, MO/Blair Oaks) returned it back to the KWC 45, but the Miners had to give the ball up on that drive as well.
Kentucky Wesleyan opened the second half with a drive that took nearly eight minutes off the clock and ended with points as Blake Vivrette connected on a 37-yard field goal to extend the lead to 9-0. The Panthers threatened to score again the next time they got the ball as they drove to the Miner three, but went for it on fourth down and Arrambide was stopped on a scramble for a loss to halt that chance.
However, the Panthers got points moments later when
Sam Simril (Portland, OR/Grant) was sacked for a safety to put the Miners in an 11-point hole with 11 minutes remaining.
The Miners got on the scoreboard with 3:17 to play when Niboh fielded a punt and raced through the Panther coverage team to the sideline and reached the end zone on a 66-yard punt return. S&T missed the two-point conversion in an effort to make it a one-score game, but got the ball back with just under a minute to go after forcing a Panther punt.
Staton King (Bixby, OK/Bixby) completed a pass to
Blaize Klossner (Rolla, MO/Rolla) for 21 yards to get the Miners to midfield, then hit Klossner again to pick up another six yards on the next play. But the next three pass attempts all fell incomplete, allowing the Panthers to run out the clock.
The Miners finished the contest with just 118 yards of total offense; the three quarterbacks used combined to go seven-of-17 for 66 yards. Klossner caught four of those passes for 33 yards, while Jarmon had the longest reception of the night with his 37-yard catch.
Josh Sanders (Maize, KS/Maize) had 46 yards on the ground to lead S&T in the rushing department.
Ben Straatmann (Washington, MO/Washington) and
Nick Mattli (O'Fallon, MO/Fort Zumwalt South) had 12 tackles apiece to lead the Miner defensive effort and both had sacks in the game along with Hurtado. Prenger,
Wulfe Retzlaff (Truckee, CA/Truckee) and
Cam Orr (Mansfield, TX/Lake Ridge) all had six stops each as the Miners held the Panthers to 258 yards on the night.
Missouri S&T will host Hillsdale at 6 p.m. next Saturday at Allgood-Bailey Stadium.
