Football Suffers Late Loss at Missouri Baptist

St. Louis, Mo., (Nov. 2, 2024)- The Missouri Valley College football team traveled to St. Louis, Mo., Saturday afternoon, for a Heart of America Athletic Conference South Division contest against Missouri Baptist.  The Vikings fell on a late touchdown, by 29-23 final score.

Missouri Baptist took the game's opening possession, and put together a scoring drive to move in front, 7-0, with just over two minutes played.  The first drive for Missouri Valley ended on an interception as the Spartans took over deep inside MVC territory.  The Viking defense forced a stop, and a 41-yard field goal attempt.  The field goal attempt went wide of the uprights, and the score stayed at 7-0 near the 10-minute mark of the quarter.

The second drive for Missouri Valley ended on a punt, which went for 54 yards from Senior Punter Justin Bridges (Park Hills, Mo.), down to the two-yard line.  The Spartans worked their way out of their own end, and reached midfield.  Missouri Valley forced another stop, and the special teams came up with a big play, as Freshman Defensive Lineman Rashad Hill (Sarasota, Fla.) blocked a punt, and MVC took over at the Missouri Baptist 11-yard line.  Two plays later, Junior Running Back Devonte Armstrong (North Las Vegas, Nev.) ran for 10 yards into the end zone for the team's first score.  Freshman Kicker Bruno Kincaid (Spain) added the extra-point, and the teams were tied, 7-7, with just over one minute to play in the quarter.

The two teams traded possession as the game entered the second quarter.  Missouri Baptist started a drive near midfield, and used four plays to pull ahead again with a touchdown, making it a 14-7 score with just over four minutes off the clock.  Missouri Valley was unable to put together a scoring drive on its next two possessions, and MBU eventually had the ball near midfield with three minutes to play before the break.

A second-down pass play for the Spartans was intercepted by Junior Defensive Back Jeremiah McNair (Hattiesburg, Miss.), and the Vikings started a drive at the Missouri Baptist 35-yard line.  Facing a four-down conversion attempt on the ensuing drive, Sophomore Running Back James Phillips (Lake Charles, La.) ran for 28 yards into the end zone to turn the fourth down play into a touchdown.  Kincaid added the extra-point, and MVC tied the score once again, at 14-14 with under two minutes to play in the half.

Missouri Baptist was unable to move the ball on its last possession of the half, as Senior Defensive Lineman Ethan Towers (Chicago, Ill.) had a sack, and the MVC defense forced an intentional grounding penalty.  The drive ended on a punt, and Sophomore Wide Receiver Jesse Johnson (St. Louis, Mo.) made a 14-yard return to start the next drive for MVC at the Spartan 27-yard line.  With time winding down in the half, Missouri Valley settled for a 45-yard field goal from Kincaid, which split the uprights, and gave the team a 17-14 lead going into halftime.

The opening drive of the second half featured Missouri Valley running off 13 plays to over 73 yards.  The drive ended on a 10-yard touchdown pass from Freshman Quarterback Cole Robertson (Kansas City, Mo.) to Freshman Wide Receiver Malik Brown (Tampa, Fla.).  The two-point conversion try was unsuccessful, and MVC extended its lead to 23-14 with under two 10-minutes to play in the quarter.

The Spartans converted on a third-down situation to continue its first drive of the half, but a third-down sack from Senior Defensive Lineman Ryan Greenwood (Beaumont, Texas) gave the Viking defense a stop as the quarter reached the six-minute mark.  Both teams traded punts as the third quarter came to an end, and the game went to the midway point of the fourth quarter.

Missouri Baptist started a drive near midfield with just over seven minutes to play in the game.  The Spartans put together an eight-play, 58-yard drive that ended in a touchdown to cut the team's deficit to 23-21 near the four-minute mark.  Missouri Valley was unable to pick up a first down on its ensuing drive, and Bridges was forced to punt from inside his own end zone, resulting in MBU taking over across midfield with two minutes to play.

Working with a short field, the Spartans found the end zone on the third play of their drive on a 21-yard pass.  The team added a two-point conversion, and moved in front, 29-23 in the final minute.  Robertson connected with Johnson early in the drive on a 23-yard completion to reach midfield, but the drive stalled there, and the team failed to convert on fourth down, turning the ball back over to Missouri Baptist.  The final seconds were played out, and the Vikings fell, 29-23.

Phillips totaled 89 yards rushing on 22 carries with one touchdown.  Brown had three receptions for 16 yards and one touchdown.  Robertson finished with 85 yards passing on 10 completions with one touchdown.

Freshman Defensive Back Zavion Bryant (Madison, Fla.) led on defense with 11 tackles, while Senior Linebacker Keaton Fitzgerald (Sikeston, Mo.) had 10 tackles and 1.5 tackles-for-loss.  Towers totaled eight tackles, three sacks and 3.5 tackles-for-loss.  Freshman Defensive Lineman Elijah Darceil (Bradenton, Fla.) and Greenwood each added one sack, while McNair had one interception.

Kincaid made a season-long 45-yard field goal attempt, and two extra-points.  Bridges had a 41.3 yards per punt average on seven punts, with a long of 61 yards and one punt inside the 20-yard line.

Missouri Valley drops to 3-5 overall and 1-4 in the division.  Missouri Baptist improves to 5-3 on the season and 3-2 in the division.

Up next, the Vikings host William Woods (Mo.) in a Heart South Division contest, Saturday at 1 p.m., inside Volney C. Ashford Stadium.

Box Score-Click Here 

About Missouri Valley College

Known for its dynamic, richly diverse, and friendly educational environment, Missouri Valley College offers many opportunities to grow in mind, body, and spirit. Grounded in the liberal arts, undergraduate studies empower students to master interdisciplinary skills needed to succeed in a knowledge-based global society. MVC offers over 30 academic programs, study abroad program, extracurricular activities, and a wide variety of sports. The most popular majors include education and business, criminal justice and exercise science. Above all, Valley is committed to student success. For more information, call (660) 831-4000 or visit www.moval.edu.