By TOMMY REZAC
St. Joseph Post
The Missouri Western football team piled up 506 yards of offense, including 310 on the ground, and the Griffons fended off Missouri Southern in a 31-27 victory at Spratt Stadium in the Rogers Pharmacy Hall of Fame game Saturday.
The Griffons (4-5) ran 79 plays on offense - 34 more than Missouri Southern. Western also controlled time of possession, holding the ball for 31:20 compared to 19:12 by the Lions.
"It was a beautiful day," Missouri Western coach Matt Williamson said. "There's nothing better than fall weather like this and getting out there and running around and tackle people, hit people and score touchdowns. So, I was pretty proud of it."
Missouri Western scored a touchdown on its opening series, as Jared Scott capped a 10-play, 75-yard scoring drive with a one yard run to the end zone, putting the Griffons up 7-0 with 10:46 left in the first quarter.
Missouri Southern (4-5) had the answer early, scoring on back-to-back touchdown drives to take a 13-7 lead with 1:46 left in the first. Missouri Western's Taylor Williams blocked a point-after to keep the score at 13-7.
The Griffons got back to work on offense early in the second, putting together a nine-play, 80-yard drive. Titus McCoy finished this one off with a four-yard touchdown run, his third of the season, and a Cody Watson point-after made it 14-13 with six minutes left in the second quarter.
The Griffons never trailed after that.
After Missouri Southern's first punt of the day, Western took over at their own seven-yard line, and methodically marched 93 yards on seven plays. The drive ended with a 22-yard touchdown run from quarterback Reagan Jones, his sixth of the season, to put the Griffons up 21-13 with 52 seconds left before halftime.
Jones finished with 274 all-purpose yards, 78 rushing and 196 passing, on a 16-of-21 completion rate through the air.
Missouri Southern got the ball to start the second half and scored in just three plays. Receiver Dwyane Lawson, lining up under center in a wildcat formation, took off around the left side and broke tackles on his way to an 80-yard touchdown.
A successful pass on a two-point conversion tied the game at 21-21 with 13:29 left in the third.
The Griffons answered right back, scoring on a 29-yard field goal from Cody Watson on their first series of the second half to go up 24-21 with 8:24 remaining in the third.
Missouri Southern would be held to just one first down on their next two possessions combined, forcing the Lions to punt it back to the Griffons on back-to-back drives.
Western took advantage. The Griffons gobbled up the entire back half of the third quarter and the early part of the fourth on a 16-play, 91-yard drive that took 7:51 off the clock. That drive ended with a 22-yard touchdown run from Scott, giving the Griffons a 31-21 edge with 13:52 remaining.
"I was really proud of the way our team came out and played in the second half and put ourselves in the win category," Williamson said.
Playing on his birthday Saturday, Scott finished with 63 yards rushing on 10 carries and two touchdowns.
Missouri Southern got one more score late. After a fumble by Western's Jones was recovered by Southern's Shadon Shannon, the Lions scored on the very next play.
Redshirt freshman quarterback Luke Sampson, making his first career start in place of the injured Dawson Herl, fired a 34-yard touchdown pass to Ezekiel Lang, but the point-after try missed off the left upright, leaving the score at 31-27 with 7:57 left.
Nick Williams, an all-MIAA place kicker for Missouri Southern, missed field goals in the first half of 32 and 48 yards. He also missed on a couple of point-after tries after going 19-for-19 on PATs through the first eight games this season.
Western got the ball back on their own 25 with 7:57 left, and the Griffons ran out all of the remaining time, keeping the ball on the ground and moving 63 yards on 15 plays.
"Man it was great," Williamson said. "When you can take the game over like that, it's pretty much keep away. You kind of take the soul out of the defense a little bit. They kept lining up in the same thing, and we just kept running."
"That last drive was just awesome, you know? Just to watch our kids continue to be physical, push people around and just run it and run it and run it."
Sophomore running back Jonas Bennett got the majority of the carries late, and he finished with 21 carries for 128 yards - both figures were team-highs and new career-highs as well.
All while playing in front of the 2012 Missouri Western football team and the entire 2022 Missouri Western Athletics Hall of Fame Class - all of whom were honored on the field at halftime.
"They set the standard for what Griffon football really is," Bennett said of the 2012 squad that went 12-2 and won an MIAA title outright. "Being able to play and win in front of them is an honor."
Missouri Western is back on the road next Saturday to face Central Missouri. The Mules (3-6) beat Lincoln 61-14 in Warrensburg Saturday.
"I mean, we just need to focus on what we need to fix personally," Bennett said. "A win going into next week is just huge."
Saturday's game starts at 1 p.m. Coverage starts at noon on KFEQ Radio (680, 95.3).
Matt Williamson, Jonas Bennett interviews
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