GAMENOTES - GAME 7 - WASHBURN

SBU vs. Missouri Southern gamenotes

Missouri Southern State University

October 23

Bolivar, Missouri

1:30 p.m.

The Series
Missouri Southern State University - Southwest Baptist
This is the 15th meeting between the two schools and the Bearcats have won two out of the last three meetings. SBU won last year 28-6 and then claimed a win in the 2001 season, 41-39, which was televised. Prior to that victory, SBU had only beaten MSSU once and that win came on October 13, 1990, when the Bearcats won 24-10 in Bolivar. The Bearcats picked up their first win in Joplin last year and are 2-5 in Bolivar.
SBU Head Coach Ray Richards is now 2-1 against the Lions and will face John Ware for the first time at MSSU this season. Ware is entering his first year at MSSU after nine years at Truman.

The Coaches
Missouri Southern State University - John Ware
Ware is in his first season at MSSU as a head coach but his 10th in the MIAA. He spent nine years as the head coach at Truman State before traveling south to Joplin. In his first year, he has guided MSSU to a 4-4 record and in the top tier of the MIAA. This is his 20th season in the MIAA as he was an assistant coach at TSU.

Ware started out at TSU in 1985 as a graduate assistant coach and then moved into a full-time position. While at TSU, they went to the NCAA playoffs three times and was the head coach when Jarrett Anderson won the Harlon Hill Trophy in 1996.

He is a 1981 graduate of Drake University where he was an all-American on the offensive line. In 1987, he earned a master’s degree from Truman State. Ware had a slim NFL career as he signed with the San Francisco 49ers and played in four exhibition games before being cut.

Southwest Baptist - Ray Richards
Ray Richards begins his fourth year at SBU. He has led the Bearcats to a 12-21 record in three years and was 6-5 in his first season. The 2001 season was the first winning season in 10 years at SBU and because of his accomplishment he was named the MIAA “Coach of the Year."

Richards came to SBU from NCAA Division I University of Louisiana-Monroe. He spent two years there as the defensive backs coach. Prior to ULM, he was at Southeastern Oklahoma State for 10 years. He has also made one more stop at the NCAA Division I level as he was a graduate assistant at Texas Tech for one season.

Graduating from Northern Michigan in 1981, Richards helped NMU to the NCAA Division II playoffs in 1980.

The Teams
Missouri Southern State University
Winning their eighth game in a row, the #2 Pittsburg State University Gorillas ran away with a 59-7 win over Missouri Southern in the U.S. Cellular Miner’s Bowl.

PSU’s Germaine Race ran for 189 yards and three touchdowns, including Pittsburg State's first two scores of the game on runs of 25 and 14 yards. The Lions collected their only touchdown of the game early in the second quarter when quarterback Nathan Emert hit Nate Proctor on a nine-yard pass

Emert completed 22-of-32 passes for 203 yards with a touchdown and one interception in the first half before leaving at halftime with a knee injury. He was replaced in the second half by sophomore Mick Majors.

MSSU quarterbacks hit 10 different receivers in the game, completing 33-of-51 passes for 318 yards, a touchdown and two interceptions. Proctor, filling in for an injured Wentric Williams, caught a game-high 10 passes for 54 yards. Proctor amassed 183 all-purpose yards in the game and junior Dustin Bromley caught four passes for 56 yards

Defensively, junior Atiba Bradley led the Southern defense with seven tackles, while safeties Jordan Chapman and Blake Martin charted six tackles apiece. Sophomore Moses Manga recovered a fumble and picked off an Andy Majors pass, marking the sixth time in eight games this year that he's either forced or recovered an opponent turnover.

Southwest Baptist
The Bearcats could not hold onto the game in the second half as ESU scored 21 points in the second half for a 34-20 win. After taking a 20-13 lead into halftime, the Southwest Baptist University Bearcats never saw the endzone again as they turned the ball over three times in the second half. ESU put up 268 yards of offense in the second half and scored 21 points to claim the win.

SBU came out on fire as they took their opening drive 75 yards for a touchdown and a 7-0 lead. Robert Clardy sweeped his way into the endzone from 19-yards out to cap the 10-play drive. In the drive, SBU rushed eight times 65 yards and completed one pass for 10 yards.

It was not until the 2:53 mark in the second quarter the SBU took a 10-point lead when Clardy scored his second touchdown of the day from three yards out. SBU started the drive on their own 14-yard line and took 5:53 off the clock.

Leaving just under three minutes left in the half, ESU marched down the field into the redzone. Having a first and goal from the eight-yard line, SBU's defense dug in and stopped the Hornets offense as ESU kicked a 24-yard field goal to bring the score to 20-13 at halftime.

The second half was a reversal of the first half as ESU dominated the statistics and scoring. A key moment that was a momentum change for the Hornets came early in the third quarter. After turning the ball over on downs on their own 31-yard line, SBU was given great field position to score and improve their lead. JoJo Rawls put SBU on the 24-yard line bu on the next play, Clardy fumbled the ball and ESU stopped the Bearcats threat of taking a two touchdown lead.

Two series later, ESU drove 62-yards to tie the game at 20 when Hatfield connected with Richard from 11-yards out.

The Bearcats tried to get back into the game by driving to the ESU 32-yard line but the drive ended on Clardy's second interception of the day. ESU then ran the last 5:31 off the clock on a nine-play drive that started at their won 10-yard line and finished on the SBU six-yard line.

Clardy finished the day with 105 yards rushing on 19 carries but only threw for 79 yards (15-10-1). In his first start, Rawls rushed for 91 yards on 17 carries. David Rogers was the leading receiver with three catches for 26 yards.

Defensively, Michael Pearl had 10 tackles and two breakups. SBU had one interception, three breakups, and three sacks.

Not “Raw"ls Anymore
Receiving his first career start against Emporia State, freshman JoJo Rawls came away with a big experience in the MIAA. He finished the game with 91 yards rushing on 17 carries and averaged 5.4 yards per carry. His longest run was 16 yards. His 91 yards rushing and 17 carries are a career high as he had 59 yards the game before against Washburn.

Overall, he now has 238 yards rushing and five touchdowns. He picked up three tds against Washburn.

NFL Watch
In his final season at SBU, senior L.V. Hill is being watched by the NFL scouts. Early on in spring practice, through summer, and now two-a-days, several NFL scouts have come to see what L.V. Hill is about. L.V. is a 6’5", 300 pound, offensive tackle that use to play tight end. Last year, he moved from tight end to strong tackle in the middle of the season because of injuries on the offensive line. Since that move, he has not left and was awarded 2003 all-MIAA honorable mention at the tackle spot.

Specs on L.V. Hill
4Squat 545
4Bench 400
4Clean 300
440 5.19
4Broad 9 ft.
4Pro I 5.2

Clardy Keeps Rushing
For the third time in four games, Robert Clardy has rushed for over 100 yards. He had 105 yards in his latest game against Emporia State. His first 100 yard game came against CMSU when he rushed for 100 yards. He then had a career high 163 yards in the loss to Washburn. He is now SBU’s leading rusher with 629 yards.

Twice this year, he has rushed for more yards than he has passed for. Against PSU, had 15-yards rushing and only eight yards passing and then in the loss to ESU he had 105 yards rushing to 79 yards passing.

Still Taking the Ball Away
Despite giving the ball up three times against ESU, SBU stayed in the top 20 as one of the best turnover margin teams in the nation. Last week, SBU was third in the nation in turnover margin. Prior to last weeks game, the SBU defense had forced 14 fumbles and intercepted nine balls. The Bearcat offense has only turned the bal lover 12 times. Now, SBU has gained 14 fumbles, interecepted 10 balls, but turned the ball over 10 times with six interceptions. They average one take away per game.

Against ESU, SBU lost the ball three times by fumbles and had one interception. That is most balls lost in a game this year. The most had been two different times.

Stuff It Down Their Throat
Even though SBU has not done a whole lot of passing this season, the offense is one of the better rushing offenses in the nation. SBU is averaging 223.6 yards per game rushing. That is good for 21st in the nation.

SBU has had 1,789 yards rushing on 354 attempts. That total puts them at third in the MIAA. Ahead of SBU is PSU and NWMSU.

SBU’s leading rusher is quarterback Robert Clardy followed by Marco Kirven with 618 yards. Deon Boykin has 283 yards and JoJo Rawls has produced 238 yards.

Kirven Sits
Due to team violations, junior Marco Kirven did not play last weeks game against Emporia State. He had to sit out one game for disciplinary actions. He will be back for the Missouri Southern game but is currently the third string running back.

Hill Leaves Team
Sophomore Brad Hill has decided to leave the team and will no longer play the rest of the season for the Bearcats. Hill had 19 tackles on the year and had recorded three sacks. He had started five games for SBU this season.

Perfect No More
Kicker Ryan Smith’s streak of 26 consecutive extra points was broken against ESU when his second attempt was blocked. He is not 26-27 on the year and third in the MIAA in extra point percentage at 96.3%.