ROLLA, Mo. – Missouri S&T and Truman State will meet for the 86^th time Saturday afternoon at Allgood-Bailey Stadium in the 2023 regular season finale and there could be rewards for the winner at the end of the day for the winner of the 1 p.m. contest.

Saturday's game is Senior Day – with pre-game introductions of the S&T seniors beginning around 12:45 p.m. – and also Military Appreciation Call to Service Day as all military members, active or retired, and their immediate families will be admitted free with a military I.D. card. 

The Miners and Bulldogs enter Saturday's game tied for second place in the Great Lakes Valley Conference with McKendree with 4-2 records in league play and the winner is assured of at least a tie for second place.  If conference leader Indianapolis loses Saturday at Southwest Baptist, the winner will get a share of the GLVC regular season championship.

Missouri S&T's defense came up big last week as the Miners won for the fourth time in five weeks in a 21-14 victory at Quincy.  S&T held the Hawks to 278 yards of total offense, nearly 140 below its season average, while also recording a goal line stand, another stop in the red zone on Quincy's final drive and to a two-of-16 mark on third down during the game.

Carson Prenger (Jefferson City, MO/Blair Oaks) led the Miners with eight tackles and has a team-high 72 on the season, while Justin Amaro (Wichita, KS/Goddard) was in on seven stops and has 10.5 tackles behind the line of scrimmage for the season.  Justin Gniedziejko (Chicago, IL/Taft) has been in on 64 tackles overall, while Nick Mattli (O'Fallon, MO/Fort Zumwalt South) leads the Miners with 11.5 stops behind the line and Sohl Gafa (San Pedro, CA/San Pedro) has a team-leading seven sacks.  Paulvin Horton (Raleigh, NC/Garner HS) also had an interception Saturday and leads the Miners with three.

Cameren Smith (Claymont, DE/Concord) enters the season finale as the GLVC's fourth-leading rusher with 670 yards on the season and has a league-leading 12 touchdowns on the ground, while Josh Sanders (Maize, KS/Maize) has 424 yards and Kai Martin (Clearwater, FL/Calvary Christian) has recorded 391 yards.  Quarterback Gunnar Palacios (Canyon, TX/Canyon) has completed 53.35 percent of his passes for 743 yards and eight touchdowns since taking over as the starter, but Tyler Gioia (Huntington Beach, CA/Edison) threw his 12^th scoring pass of the season after entering the game in the fourth quarter; he has 1,387 yards through the air this season.

CJ Wiggins (Yuma, AZ/Gila Ridge) leads the Miners with 35 receptions for 570 yards and four touchdowns, while CJ Jarmon has 32 catches for 476 yards and scored his seventh touchdown of the year Saturday.  Blaize Klossner (Rolla, MO/Rolla) has added 29 catches for 259 yards.

ABOUT TRUMAN STATE: The Bulldogs come into their regular season finale at 8-2 overall and are part of the three-way tie for second place in the GLVC.  Truman held off Upper Iowa 14-7 last week, scoring the go-ahead touchdown early in the third quarter on Nolan Hair's one-yard touchdown run and holding the ball for the final 5:42 of the game to wrap up the win.

Hair has completed 64.3 percent of his passes for 1,779 yards and 12 touchdowns; his completion percentage is the top mark in the conference.  His leading target is Tate Crane, who has 42 receptions for 520 yards and four touchdowns, while Zach Zerwig has hauled in 23 passes for 229 yards and Christopher Kerr has 20 catches for 246 yards.

Mason Huskey ranks third in the GLVC in rushing with 684 yards on the season and has scored eight touchdowns, with three games with over 100 yards this year.  Tim Johnson has 260 yards and Denim Cook has 252 – 130 of which came against Indianapolis last month – while Hair has ran for six scores after scoring both Truman touchdowns last week.  The Bulldogs rank sixth in the GLVC with an average of 334.8 yards per game.

Meanwhile, the Truman defense ranks first in the GLVC as it has allowed just 279.1 yards per game and are second in the league against both the run and pass.  Isaiah Estes leads the Bulldogs with 75 tackles on the season, while linebacker Ulysses Ross has 64 tackles.  Thomas Spaulding leads Truman with eight tackles for a loss, while six different Bulldogs have pass interceptions, led by Estes, Ben Thomas and Jake Closser with two apiece.