ROLLA, Mo. – Missouri S&T's offense had one of its best performances in school history Saturday afternoon and the defensive unit had its best showing in 11 seasons as the Miners rolled to a 57-20 win on Homecoming over William Jewell on a rainy Saturday afternoon at Allgood-Bailey Stadium.
S&T racked up a season-high 608 yards of total offense, the sixth-most in a game in program history and had 354 of them on the ground, while holding the Cardinals to just 118 total yards to improve to 3-6 overall and 3-2 in the Great Lakes Valley Conference.
After each team punted on its opening possession, the Miner offense took off the second time it got the football as it reached the end zone on its next seven possessions and added a field goal on the one that followed. The first score came after
Kai Martin (Clearwater, FL/Calvary Christian) raced 62 yards to the Jewell 11-yard line, setting up the first of four
Gunnar Palacios (Canyon, TX/Canyon) touchdown passes as he connected with
CJ Wiggins (Yuma, AZ/Gila Ridge) for the score.
S&T got another 62-yard run, this one from
Josh Sanders (Maize, KS/Maize), to set up its second score as Palacios scrambled out of the pocket and raced to the end zone on a 10-yard run to put the Miners up 12-0 after a two-point conversion attempt failed.
William Jewell got on the scoreboard late in the opening quarter on a two-yard touchdown pass from CJ Ward to Deldrionn Amos, but the Miners proceeded to bust the game open in the second quarter. On the first play of the period,
Cade Grimm (Branson, MO/Branson) crashed over from the one-yard line, then Palacios threw two more touchdown passes before the quarter ended as he connected with Wiggins on a two-yard scoring pass – as Wiggins made a one-handed catch in the back corner of the end zone – and an eight-yard touchdown pass to
Justis Braden (Liberty, MO/Liberty North) with just over a minute to play before halftime.
The onslaught continued at the start of the second half, as S&T went 48 yards in four plays on its first drive of the second half that concluded with a nine-yard touchdown run by
Cameren Smith (Claymont, DE/Concord) and followed that with a four-play, 84-yard drive highlighted by a 50-yard catch-and-run by Martin. That set up a seven-yard touchdown pass from Palacios to
Reid Weber (St. Charles, MO/Francis Howell), as he caught a deflected pass in the back of the end zone for the score.
The remaining points for the Miners came courtesy of a 36-yard field goal by
Layne Ryals (Louisburg, KS/Louisburg) and a 33-yard touchdown pass by
Tyler Gioia (Huntington Beach, CA/Edison) to
Max Conard (Blue Springs, MO/Blue Springs South).
Martin finished the day with 180 all-purpose yards as he led the rushing attack with a career-high 130 yards, while Sanders ended the contest with 95 and Smith with 76. Palacios, meanwhile, completed 15-of-18 for 190 yards and the four touchdowns and spread the wealth, as the Miners had nine different receivers catch passes. Wiggins had four of the receptions to lead S&T.
Not to be overlooked was the defensive performance, as the Miners held the Cardinals to 118 yards overall – the fewest given up by an S&T defense since holding South Dakota Mines to 117 in the 2012 season finale. S&T recorded eight sacks in the contest, four coming from
Sohl Gafa (San Pedro, CA/San Pedro) and were led in tackles by
Zatyvion Miller (Los Alamitos, CA/Los Alamitos) and
Justin Gniedziejko (Chicago, IL/Taft) with five apiece as the Cardinals ran only 50 plays from scrimmage.
The Cardinals finished with a net minus 29 yards rushing and averaged only 2.4 yards per play to S&T's 9.4.
Missouri S&T will play its final road game of the season next Saturday when it faces Quincy in a 1 p.m. game in Quincy, Ill.
