BOLIVAR, Mo. – In a wild back-and-forth affair Saturday night, it was Missouri S&T who threw the last blow as it outlasted Southwest Baptist in a 42-40 Great Lakes Valley Conference victory at Plaster Stadium.
Layne Ryals (Louisburg, KS/Louisburg) capped off a game-winning drive by kicking a 23-yard field goal with two seconds remaining to win a game for the Miners (3-2, 1-1 GLVC) that had six lead changes over the final 20 minutes.
S&T's winning drive came after Southwest Baptist (2-2, 1-1 GLVC) had taken the lead with 3:10 remaining on a 52-yard scoop-and-score touchdown by Finn Smith. Starting from their own 25, the Miners moved up the field quickly beginning with a 29-yard completion from
Jake Farrell (Scottsdale, AZ/Notre Dame Prep) to
Reid Weber (St. Charles, MO/Francis Howell) to get past midfield.
Later in the drive after the two-minute timeout and faced with fourth-and-four, Farrell completed a pass along the sideline to Brennan Taranto for 20 yards to the Bearcat 16-yard line. With SBU out of timeouts, the Miners were able to milk the clock down to four seconds to set up the game-winning kick by Ryals.
S&T jumped out to a 14-0 lead after one quarter, getting touchdown runs of two yards from
Evan Wells (Roxana, IL/Roxana) and one yard by
AJ Harris (Wentzville, MO/Lutheran-St. Charles). The first score came after the Miners stopped the Bearcats on fourth down and took possession at the SBU 37 and scored eight plays later.
Following Harris' touchdown, the Bearcats returned the ensuing kickoff into S&T territory and drove for their first score of the night on a one-yard run by Jobe Smith. The Miners answered back with their own long return of a kickoff, as
K'Vion Bills (Country Club Hills, IL/Hillcrest) brought the ball back to the SBU 48-yard line to set up a 41-yard field goal by Ryals to give the Miners a 17-7 advantage.
The Bearcats cut the lead to three in the latter stages of the first half on a five-yard scoring pass from Jaron Saunders to Kamau Ransom and got the ball back after S&T turned the ball over on downs, but
Peyton Webster (Springfield, IL/Springfield) picked off a Saunders pass and returned it the Bearcat 16-yard line. Two plays later, Farrell connected with Weber on a two-yard scoring pass to extend S&T's lead to 24-14 at the intermission.
The Miners got the ball to begin the second half and got a 28-yard field goal from Ryals to add to their lead, but the Bearcats scored on back-to-back possessions to take their first lead of the night, getting a 59-yard scoring catch by Ransom and a 15-yard touchdown reception by Shawn Cherry to move in front with just over five minutes to go in the third quarter.
From there, it became a back-and-forth affair. The Miners responded with a 73-yard scoring drive that culminated with a one-yard touchdown reception by
Justis Braden (Liberty, MO/Liberty North), only to see SBU's Emrie Neal haul in an 18-yard scoring pass early in the fourth quarter.
Both teams missed two-point conversion tries after their respective touchdowns, then the Miners scored again less than two minutes after the Neal touchdown as Weber made his second scoring catch of the evening, hauling in a 23-yard pass from Farrell.
The Miners thwarted two SBU possessions after taking the lead, the first when Webster made his second interception of the night and the other when the Bearcats threw an incompletion in the end zone. However, the SBU defense got the lead back after Smith picked up a loose ball after a sack on a fourth down play and took it to the end zone.
But Farrell – who threw for a career-high 402 yards that was the most by a Miner quarterback in seven seasons – went three-of-four on the final drive to get the Miners into position for the game-winning kick by Ryals.
Farrell completed 33-of-47 passes and threw three touchdown passes, with Braden catching nine balls for 95 yards and Weber accumulating 126 yards on his eight receptions. The Miners finished with 498 yards of total offense, as Wells also ran for 83 on the ground that included his first collegiate touchdown.
Southwest Baptist finished the night with 459 yards of offense, as Saunders threw for 287 yards to go along with the 172 yards the Bearcats picked up on the ground.
Seneca Bradley (Clarksville, TN/Rossview) Jr., and
Cameron Sturgell (Lamar, MO/Lamar) finished with 11 tackles apiece to lead the Miners, while Webster had nine stops to go along with his two interceptions.
Missouri S&T will play its next two games at home, beginning with next Saturday's Homecoming matchup against Upper Iowa (3-1, 1-0 GLVC) at 1 p.m. at Allgood-Bailey Stadium.
