QUINCY, Ill. – On a day when Missouri S&T's offense was spinning its wheels at times, the Miner defense came up big to propel S&T to a 21-14 Great Lakes Valley Conference victory over Quincy Saturday afternoon.
The Miners held the Hawks to nearly 140 yards below its season average, made a goal-line stand midway through the second half, got a stop in the red zone on the Hawks' final drive in an effort to tie the game in the last minute and held Quincy on third down to a two-of-16 performance on the day to improve to 4-6 overall and 4-2 in the GLVC.
S&T remained in a tie for second place in the GLVC with Truman State – who will visit S&T in the season finale next Saturday at Allgood-Bailey Stadium – and McKendree, who upset eighth-ranked Indianapolis to not only stay in the tie for second but bring the trio to within a game of the Greyhounds. If UIndy falls next Saturday at Southwest Baptist, one or two of the three teams currently tied for second will gain a share of the GLVC regular season title.
Although the Miner offense had inconsistency throughout the day, it did produce a big play to set up each of its three touchdowns.
The first came after Quincy's Michael Owens pushed a 40-yard field goal attempt wide to the left to keep the game scoreless in the opening period. After picking up two first downs,
Gunnar Palacios (Canyon, TX/Canyon) found
Cameren Smith (Claymont, DE/Concord) in the flat for a 28-yard pickup to the Hawk 16-yard line and
Kai Martin (Clearwater, FL/Calvary Christian) scored on the next play to put S&T in front.
Quincy tied the game in the second quarter as the Miners were called for pass interference to move the ball to the three-yard line, after which Jadon Washington got into the end zone. But after the ensuing kickoff, the Miners were able to chew up nearly all of the remaining 5:42 of the first half as they methodically moved the ball 75 yards for the go-ahead score.
S&T got into scoring position following a 37-yard pass from Palacios to
CJ Wiggins (Yuma, AZ/Gila Ridge), followed by a 14-yard run by Martin to get inside the Quincy 10. The Miners took four runs at the end zone and across on the last of them as Smith went in with just 15 seconds to play in the half to take a 14-7 lead to the locker room.
The Miner defense took over matters in the second half, even as the Hawks had three drives in the quarter that began at midfield or closer.
S&T fumbled on its opening drive of the second half, but
Sohl Gafa (San Pedro, CA/San Pedro) got a sack on third down to force a Quincy punt. The Hawks' next drive began at the S&T 46 after another fumble, but that also resulted in a three-and-out and a punt.
The third drive came after defensive tackle Brandon Granger picked off a pass at the S&T 18-yard line. The Miners appeared to have stopped the Hawks on fourth down on an incomplete pass in the end, but S&T was flagged for pass interference to keep the drive going from the two. However, S&T stopped two successive running attempts to end the third quarter and another to begin the fourth before QU quarterback Ike Wiley's fourth down pass was off the mark in the end zone.
Following an S&T punt that again gave Quincy the ball in Miner territory, the defense got another turnover on downs as they stopped Teon Dollard for no gain on fourth down at the Miner 35.
Tyler Gioia (Huntington Beach, CA/Edison), who came in at quarterback on the previous possession, quickly got the Miners down the field for what turned out to be the decisive score.
On the second play, Wiggins won a wrestling match for a pass for 29 yards to the Quincy 30-yard line, then Gioia went to the other side of the field on the next play and CJ Jarmon did likewise in the end zone for a touchdown to give S&T a two-possession lead with 10:04 remaining.
The Hawks cut the margin in half when Travis Isaac caught a 60-yard touchdown pass from Wiley with 5:07 to go, then Quincy got the ball back at its own 49 after a Miner punt. Wiley threw a 17-yard completion to Marlin Washington for a first down, then scrambled for a first down on a fourth-and-four to put the ball at the S&T 21. But on third-and-four from the 15, Isaac took a four-yard loss on a reception to bring up fourth down and Wiley overthrew his receiver on the following play to lock up the win for the Miners.
S&T outgained the Hawks 295-278 and held the ball for nearly 33 minutes in the game. Palacios threw for 123 yards on the afternoon and Gioia had 64 on four completions off the bench, with Smith and Jarmon catching three ball apiece. Martin had 74 yards on the ground to lead S&T in that department.
The Hawks ran for 155 yards and threw for 123, but 60 of the passing yards came on the fourth quarter touchdown as the Miners held Quincy to just 63 yards on its other 13 completions.
Carson Prenger (Jefferson City, MO/Blair Oaks) led the Miners with eight tackles and
Justin Amaro (Wichita, KS/Goddard) recorded seven, including two of the Miners' 11 stops behind the line of scrimmage. Gafa and
Nick Mattli (O'Fallon, MO/Fort Zumwalt South) had the two sacks for S&T and
Paulvin Horton (Raleigh, NC/Garner HS) intercepted a pass to halt a Quincy drive in the first half.
Next Saturday's game with Truman State will get underway at 1 p.m. The Miners will honor their seniors in a pre-game ceremony around 12:45 and next week's game is also Military Appreciation Day; all military members, active or retired, and their immediate families will be provided free admission.
