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Jeff Weseloh (SBU Athletics) Bolivar, Mo. – No. 25 Southwest Baptist University picked up a program record 8th victory of the 2016 season with a strong 45-22 victory over Missouri S&T on Saturday afternoon. With the win SBU improves to 8-1 (6-1 GLVC) on the season.
After back-to-back three-and-outs by both the Bearcats and Miners to open up the game on Saturday, SBU found themselves down a score with 8:22 left in the first quarter. S&T used a 13 play, 71-yard drive to strike first, but a blocked extra point by Julian Shade kept the deficit at 6-0. The defense continued to play strong, keeping SBU within six as the Bearcat offense took over with 4:59 left in the first quarter. TJ Edwards hit Cassian Foreman down the sideline with a 60-yard completion to jump-start the offense. After a penalty took the offense back to nearly midfield, Edwards scrambled for a 48-yard touchdown run to give SBU their first lead of the game at 7-6.
The defense forced another three-and-out, giving the ball back to the offense. Edwards led the drive off with a 10-yard rush, followed by a 15-yard completion to Kendrick Payne to get the Bearcats into field goal range. Jordan LeClair then connected on a 42-yard field goal with 1:24 left in the first quarter to extend the SBU lead to 10-6.
Truman State responded with a field goal of their own on the following possession, cutting the Bearcat lead back to one at 10-9. However, it took SBU 12 seconds to strike back. Edwards threw a backwards pass to Payne, who found a wide open Chris Robb down the sidelines for a 65-yard catch and run touchdown to put SBU back up by eight at 17-9. The back-and-forth battle continued on S&T’s following possession, as they responded with a touchdown of their own in only 1:31 to give SBU the slight 17-16 edge. However, the Miners would not get any closer in the game as SBU would start to pull away.
SBU used a 13 play, 75 yard drive to extend their lead once again. Bubba Jenkins ripped off runs of 21 and 16 yards in the drive, setting up Cory Hanger for a 10-yard touchdown run as SBU led 24-16 with 5:09 left in the half. The SBU defense forced another three-and-out, the fourth of the half, before the offense went back to work. The Bearcats used a mixture of ground and air play before Edwards ran it in from 26 yards out to give SBU a 31-16 lead. Missouri S&T would take a knee, as the Bearcats would go into the half with a 31-16 lead.
The Miners opened up the second half by forcing SBU to punt, and then took the ball 61 yards in 7 plays as the SBU lead was cut to 31-22. But once again the SBU defense held strong, preventing a successful two-point conversion, while also holding the Miners scoreless for the remainder of the game as the Bearcats headed into the fourth quarter with the 31-22 lead.
The SBU offense came back to life in the fourth quarter, as the Bearcats started to pull away from the Miners for good. After a big third down completion from Edwards to Foreman kept the SBU drive alive, the Bearcats used a penalty and a couple of short gains to advance the ball into S&T territory. Edwards found Foreman down the sideline for 25 yards, setting up another red zone opportunity. On third-and-eleven from the S&T 13-yardline, Edwards found Payne in the endzone for a 13-yard strike to extend the Bearcat lead to 38-22 with 11:56 to go. The defense again forced a three-and-out before SBU would strike again.
Edwards opened the drive with a 15-yard shuffle pass to Jenkins, followed by an 8-yard completion to Payne. Edwards then had rushes of 12 and 11 yards before connecting with Payne once again in the endzone with a 10-yard strike to extend the Bearcat lead to 45-22 with 7:43 remaining.
On the following Missouri S&T drive, Nick Burns picked off an S&T pass in SBU territory to put the offense back on the field. The Bearcat seniors were brought into the game, their final regular season home contest, as SBU sealed the 45-22 victory.
TJ Edwards once again had an outstanding game at quarterback, throwing for 220 yards (18-34) and 2 touchdowns, while also rushing for a game high 143 yards and 2 touchdowns on 11 carries. Kendrick Payne hauled in 8 receptions for 81 yards and 2 touchdowns, while Cassian Foreman had a game high 97 receiving yards. On the ground Bubba Jenkins picked up 82 yards in the victory. Defensively D’Angelo Tucker picked up a team high 10 tackles, including 2.0 sacks and 3.0 tackles for a loss to go along with a forced fumble. Shaun Hutchinson also picked up 8 tackles, including 2.0 for a loss, in the victory.
The Bearcats will step out of GLVC play next weekend when they travel to Central State. Kickoff is set for 12:00 p.m. on Saturday, November 5 from Wilberforce, Ohio.
