The Griffon News

The Missouri Western Griffons struggled throughout the 42nd annual Mineral Water Bowl hounded by cold, rainy weather but were able to pull out a 20-13 victory over Wayne State. The Wildcats — who hail from the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference’s (NISC) —met the Griffons at Tiger Stadium in the annual battle that pits the best non-playoff team from their respective conference.

Western came into the game 8-3 fresh off of a demoralizing defeat to Truman State in the final week of the season to end their playoff hopes, while Wayne State came in with a 7-4 record.

Western’s head coach Jerry Partridge said that it was a typical Mineral Water Bowl —evenly matched teams playing in bitter weather.

“We had just enough turnovers to get them stopped and we made just enough plays on offense to score and we won the game,” said Partridge.

Offensively, both teams were struggling throughout the game trying to gain and keep the lead. The only score of the half happened when Western quarterback Drew Newhart threw an 11-yard pass to wide receiver Andrew Mead at the beginning of the second quarter.

The first half was marked with a lackluster performance by both teams with the inability to convert on third down or score on their minimal opportunities in the red zone.
As the second half began, the rain started to come down, soaking the 1,500 fans, and providing another obstacle for both teams to overcome.

The Wildcats finally answered Western’s score with a touchdown of their own late in the third quarter.

Their celebration was cut short by a 55-yard touchdown run by freshman running back La’Darrian Page on Western’s next possession.

 “I had a couple of big runs and the coach said ‘stick with it and you will break one eventually’ and I made a real effort to put in a couple of juke moves to get in the end zone,” said Page.

Page, who rushed for 147 yards, averaged 9.8 per carry and won the offensive MVP of the game, impressing Wayne State head coach Dan McLaughlin along the way.
“That little ‘back, we knew he was good but he is special; that little freshman, he is tough,” McLaughlin said.

Western added another three points with a Mineral Water Bowl record 48-yard field goal by kicker Dustin Strickler making the score 17-7.
Western’s special team also made two other crucial plays.

Punter Jamie Hanson kicked a 76-yard punt that the Wildcats were not expecting.

“We called a timeout thinking that we were going to get a decent field position but bang we were on the 6 or 7 yard line,” said McLaughlin.

The special team also gave Western a crucial first down with a fake punt pass to free safety J.R. Graham who ran for 32 yards.
“They had that look,” Partridge said.

That “look” was the Wildcats lining up to block the punt.

The defense also played a critical role, especially in the waning minutes of the contest.

The score was 20-13 and the Wildcats were hunting for another score to tie the game when the defense put an end to the threat.

“Their defense adjusted to what we wanted to do. I thought they did a great job adjusting to what our game plan was defensively,” McLaughlin said.

Senior linebacker Jacob Schoonover was awarded the defensive MVP of the game after tallying 14 tackles and one sack.

“The defense played well,” said Schoonover.  “The biggest thing that stuck out was a lot of our guys make some big hits.”

With less than five minutes to go in the game, Western opened the door for Wayne State to comeback when Drew Newhart fumbled on the Wildcats’ 18, Newhart went 14 of 29 passing for 146 yards.

The Wildcats then steadily marched down the field trying to get into the end zone.

Everybody in the stadium held their collective breath, seeing what the Wildcats’ offense would do.

With the game on the line and the Wildcats on Western’s 22-yard line, defensive lineman Andrew Gilmore provided a crucial play by sacking the Wildcats quarterback, his second of the game.

This caused the Wildcats to try to score on fourth and five but the pass rush from Western’s defensive tackle Soane Etu caused the Wildcats’ quarterback to throw and incomplete pass.

Western gained the ball and ran down the clock for their fourth victory in the Mineral Water Bowl, the third in the last five years.