The Missouri Western football team used big plays defeating the Lincoln Blue Tigers 81-20 in the annual Hall of Fame game. Western tied the school record for most points in a game with 81, a record they set a season ago against Lincoln. The Griffons scored 10 touchdowns in the contest with two coming on special teams, one from the defense and seven from the offense. Senior kicker Greg Zuerlein scored 19 of the Griffons 81 points tying a school record with 10 extra points. He tied Brad Beckwith who set it a season ago against Lincoln. Western improves to 4-2 overall and 3-2 in MIAA action.
Missouri Western scored 26 points in the final 5:47 of the first half claiming a 37 point leading heading to the locker room. The Griffons racked up 199 yards of total offense with Michael Hill rushing for 94 yards on eight carries and two touchdowns. Hill also caught two passes for 56 yards and a touchdown.
The Griffons opened up the scoring on a Tarrell Downing 72 yard punt return with 13:34 to play in the first quarter giving Western the 7-0 lead. Hill caught a 53 yard touchdown from Travis Partridge on the Griffons next possession giving Western the 14-0 lead with 9:42 to play. Greg Zuerlein kicked his first of two field goals with 12:14 to play in the second quarter from 32 yards out giving Western the 17-0 lead.
The Blue Tigers hung in there driving down to the Griffons four yard line before being turned away on fourth down. A Partridge interception on the next possession set Lincoln up on Western’s 12 yards line. The Blue Tigers went 12 yards on three plays with Deon Brock rushing in from one yard out cutting the Griffon lead to 17-6.
From there the Griffons dominated as Yomi Alli blocked the extra point returning it for two points. Downing returned the ensuing kickoff 88 yards to give Western the 26-6 lead with 5:33 to play in the half. A Zuerlein 50-yard field goal along with two touchdown runs by Hill, a 13-yarder and 44-yarder, gave the Griffons the commanding halftime lead.
Ben Jackson and Shane Simpson had interceptions in the final five minutes while Ben Pister led the way with six tackles.
Lincoln had 151 yards of total offense with Robert Redmond connecting on 12-of-19 for 115 yards. Corderious Gregory had four catches for 59 yards. Kendrick Causey led the way with 6 tackles.
The Griffons continued the onslaught into the second half when Cody Kremer ran an interception back 30 yards giving Western the 50-6 lead with 12:21 to play in the third.
Western scored 10 more points in the third with Dominic Thomas rushing in from two yards out and Zuerlein hitting his second field goal of over 50 yards making a 51 yarder.
Western used touchdowns by Jerrin Walton, Thomas and Dalton Krysa in the fourth to give the Griffons the 61 point victory. Western finished the night rushing for 363 yards on 29 attempts for an average of 12.5 per rush. Western improves to 4-0 when they rush for over 200 yards in a game this season. Western had 478 yards of total offense holding the ball just over 17 minutes in the game.
Thomas rushed nine times for 124 yard and two touchdowns while Walton and Hill finished with 94 yards. Hill and Derek Libby caught two passes apiece. Downing had two punt returns for 78 yards and one kickoff return for 88 yards. Zuerlein had 14 kickoffs with six resulting in touchbacks.
The Blue Tigers had 452 yards of total offense with 317 coming through the air. Redmond connected on 31-45 attempts for 269 yards and one touchdown but had three interceptions. Gregory finished with 170 yards on 13 receptions and one touchdown. Brock had 73 yards rushing on 20 carries with on touchdown.
Defensively Stephen Juergens had nine tackles with one being for a loss while Meshack Kennedy had seven tackles. Lincoln was led by Kendrick Causey with 11 tackles.
Western will hit the road for on Saturday, October 15 when they travel to Emporia, Kan. to take on the Emporia State Hornets in MIAA action. Game time is set for 1:00 pm from Jones Field at Welch Stadium.
— MWSU Sports Information —