ROLLA, Mo. – Great Lakes Valley Conference play begins for Missouri S&T's football team this weekend as the Miners prepare to host Quincy University on Miner Hall of Fame Night at Allgood-Bailey Stadium. Saturday's contest is scheduled for a 7 p.m. kickoff.

Despite yet another solid performance from its defensive unit, the Miners fell short last week in a 17-10 home loss to Hillsdale.  The Miners held the Chargers to 350 yards in the game that was decided by a Hillsdale touchdown in the fourth quarter, but S&T finished the night with just 235 yards and has averaged just 210.2 yards per game on the season.

S&T's defense has given up just 366 yards per game, but 310 per game over the last three weeks and has allowed 17 or fewer points in those contests – the first time since 1994 that an S&T team has given up 17 or less in three consecutive games.

Linebacker Ben Straatmann (Washington, MO/Washington) continues to lead the Miners in tackles with 35 on the year and has also accumulated a team-high four quarterback sacks and 11.5 tackles for a loss.  Stefan Camplin (Raytown, MO/Raytown) has made 28 tackles on the season and is tied for the team lead with Cam Orr (Mansfield, TX/Lake Ridge) with three pass breakups, while fellow safety Carson Prenger (Jefferson City, MO/Blair Oaks) has been in on 25 tackles.

The Miners got two of their three interceptions on the season in last week's game, as Zatyvion Miller (Los Alamitos, CA/Los Alamitos) and Matt Brennisen picked off passes.  Peyton Shelton (Ventura, CA/Buena) has the third interception which came in the Miners' Sept. 10 win at Drake.

Staton King (Bixby, OK/Bixby) got his first career start at quarterback last week and completed 15-of-25 passes for 111 yards.  His top target was Isaiah Wright (Panama City, FL/Port St. Joe), who had five catches in the game and has a team-high 10 on the season for 165 yards and a touchdown.  Blaize Klossner (Rolla, MO/Rolla) has eight receptions on the year and CJ Jarmon has hauled in five passes.

The Miner ground game has been paced by Cameren Smith (Claymont, DE/Concord), who has 134 yards on the season and two touchdowns; his 41-yard touchdown run early in the second half accounted for S&T's lone touchdown.  Gideon Niboh (St. Charles, MO/Francis Howell) has 118 yards rushing and leads the GLVC with an average of 18.8 yards per punt return.

S&T also has the top punter in the conference in Parker Boyce (Hartsburg, MO/Southern Boone), who is averaging 43.2 yards per punt and has dropped a league-high 12 punts inside the opponents' 20-yard line.

ABOUT QUINCY:  Quincy had its two-game winning streak halted Saturday in a 34-14 loss to 12^th-ranked Ashland as it was outgained by a 423-283 margin by the Eagles.  The Hawks allowed a season-high 209 yards on the ground as they fell behind 24-0 before they got on the scoreboard for the first time.  QU went 2-2 in its non-league slate and like the Miners, will be opening its Great Lakes Valley Conference schedule on Saturday.

Quarterback Tionne Harris has completed 54.4 percent of his passes (49-of-90) for 857 yards and 10 touchdowns on the season; he broke the Hawks' single-game mark with six touchdown passes in a win over Trinity International in the second week of the season.  His top targets have been A.J. Hardin with 12 receptions for 266 yards and Jalen Lawrence, who has hauled in 10 passes for 193 yards.  Both receivers have three scoring catches and as a team, the Hawks are averaging a GLVC-best 17.2 yards per completed pass.

Tremayne Lee ranks fourth in the GLVC in rushing with 169 yards, while Taylor Temple is seventh with his 154 yards on the year.

On defense, the Hawks are led in tackles by linebacker Peyton Chappel with 40 overall stops on the year; he also leads QU with two interceptions, 5.5 tackles for a loss and 3.5 sacks and was named as the GLVC's defensive player of the week two weeks ago.  Jackson Connell has recorded 19 tackles for the season and Brian Tape has a team-high five pass breakups.