GAMENOTES - GAME 3 - MISSOURI WESTERN

SBU vs. Missouri Western gamenotes

Missouri Western

September 11

Bolivar, Missouri

6 p.m.

The Series
Missouri Western - Southwest Baptist
This is the 16th meeting between the Griffons and the Bearcats and the first time that MWSC has been to Bolivar since 2001. MWSC holds a 13-2 advantage over SBU. It has been since 1991 that the Bearcats have defeated Missouri Western. The closest SBU came to defeating MWSC came in 2001 when they lost 21-12. MWSC holds a 6-2 record in St. Joseph and are 7-0 in Bolivar. The Bearcats won twice on the road against Missouri Western in 1990 and 1991. SBU won 14-13 on Sept. 29, 1990 and 43-34 on Oct. 12, 1991. This is the second season in a row that SBU will open up MIAA play against Missouri Western.

Coach Ray Richards is 0-3 against the Griffons while Jerry Partridge of MWSC is 7-0 against the Bearcats. MWSC has won the last 12 contests.

The Coaches
MIssouri Western - Jerry Partiridge
Partridge is in his seventh season at MWSC and holds a 48-31 overall record. Last year was his finest year at MWSC as he led the Griffons to a share of the MIAA Championship and a Mineral Bowl win over Concordia-St. Paul.

Prior to becoming the head coach at Missouri Western, Partridge spent the 1995 season as the defensive secondary coach at Murray State (Ky.) University. While at Murray State, Partridge won the Ohio Valley Conference title before bowing out of the NCAA Division I-AA playoffs. Before Murray State, Partridge was the defensive coordinator at Western. During five seasons coaching the defense, Western established 13 school records and in the last three seasons of overseeing the defense, the Griffons went 23-8-2. H was also the defensive coordinator at Austin Peay University and a graduate assistant coach at both Notre Dame University and the University of Missouri. Partridge was a member of the Notre Dame coaching staff when the Fighting Irish won the 1988 national title by winning the Fiesta Bowl under then head coach Lou Holtz. While at Missouri, Partridge earned a Master's degree in Sports Administration.

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 Western
The Griffons are coming off of a 34-14 win over NAIA Bendictine (Kan.). Quarterback Michael Cooper rushed nine times for 68 yards and two touchdowns while passing for 99 yards and two scores while runningback Nick Richardson rushed 16 times for 148 yards and one touchdown. The Griffons scored three times in the first quarter on two one-yard touchdown runs by Cooper and a two-yard run by Richardson. Robinson scored a touchdown with 11:41 left in the 3rd quarter, while junior tight end Bill Noll wrapped up the Griffon scoring output with a 16-yard td connection with Cooper at the 8:41 mark of the 3rd quarter. Western rushed 44 times for 313 yards on the ground.

Southwest Baptist
The Bearcats came out sharp in the home opener as they put up 31 points over Western New Mexico’s 14. SBU scored on its first three possessions of the game all on rushes from Marco Kirven and Robert Clardy. Kirven put the Bearcats up 7-0 when he broke through a hole for a 42-yard touchdown run. Clardy then scored the next two tds on runst of 56 and six yards for the quick 21-0 advantage.

WNMU cut the lead to 14 on a 51-yard touchdown pass with 10:36 left in the fourth quarter. SBU responded wiht 10 straight points to go up 31-7. Ryan Smith nailed his second field goal of the year from 28-yards out and then Nick Smart caught a 13-yard touchdown pass from Clardy to finish out the scoring. WNWU punched in a touchdown with 1:40 left but did not recover the onside kick as SBU ran out the clock.

Kirven picked up this 11th 100-yard career rushing game with 129 yards and Deon Boykin also rushed for 100 yards. Ulexis Williams had seven tackles to lead the defense as the Bearcats also picked off three balls.

Clardy - MIAA “Player of the Week"
Sophomore Robert Clardy did something that only one other quarterback in Ray Richards tenure at SBU has done - receive the MIAA offensive “Player of the Week" award. Clardy rushed for 48 yards and threw for 151 yards. He accounted for three of SBU’s four touchdowns as he ran in two and threw for another. In the second possession of the game, he saw an opening to run and 56-yards later he was in the endzone. He now has 95 yards rushing and 310 yards passing in two games.

In 2001, Chris Lowe was the other quarterback to receive the award. With Clardy being named “Player of the Week", he now ends a two-year drought in which an offensive player had been given the award.

Coach Richards in MIAA Openers
Head Coach Ray Richards posts a 1-2 record in MIAA season openers. He picked up his first MIAA win in his first season in the opener against Missouri Southern. The Bearcats edged Southern, 41-39 to start off the season 3-0.

Date Team Outcome
9/13/01 Missouri Southern W, 41-39
9/21/02 Missouri Southern L, 40-25
9/20/03 Missouri Western L, 39-7

MIAA Openers
The 1988 season was the first season that SBU started playing the MIAA in football. They have a 5-11 record in MIAA openers and won their very first MIAA game in 1988 against Lincoln.
Date Team Outcome
10/1/88 Lincoln W, 37-16
9/2/89 SE Missouri State W, 22-15
9/1/90 SE Missouri State L, 21-7
9/21/91 Pittsburg State L, 23-17
9/19/92 Pittsburg State L, 31-28
9/18/93 Emporia State L, 42-6
9/24/94 Emporia State L, 42-16
9/16/95 NW Missouri State L, 45-13
9/21/96 NW Missouri State L, 47-7
9/20/97 Washburn L, 25-7
9/19/98 Washburn W, 26-20
9/18/99 Truman State W, 18-16
9/16/00 Truman State L, 64-14
9/13/01 Missouri Southern W, 41-39
9/21/02 Missouri Southern L, 40-25
9/20/03 Missouri Western L, 39-7

“Smart" Move
Freshman Nick Smart came to SBU to compete at the quarterback position. Once here, the coaches moved him to the receiver spot. After catching three balls for 20-yards in his first collegiate game, he received his first start against Western New Mexico.
The Marionville, Missouri, athlete had a career game against WNMU as he caught his first collegiate touchdown from 13-yards out and he amessed 87 yards receiving on eight catches. Not bad for originally being recruited as a quarterback.

Pick This
With three interceptions in one game, it was the sixth time in Coach Ray Richards tenure at SBU that the defense intercepted three or more passes in a game. It was the first time since the 2002 season that SBU had three or more picks in a game. In 2001 and 2002 they did it twice with three of those for games coming with four interceptions.

In 2002, SBU picked off three passes against UMR and NWMSU and then had four interceptions vs. Kentucky Wesleyan. Ulexis Williams had three of those 10 pickoffs while Chis Katz had two. In 2001, SBU had two games in which they stole four balls. Of the eight interceptions in those two games, Donald Williams attested for four of them. Joey Maiwelmal and Chris Katz each had one, too.

Williams & Williams, INT.
Ulexis Williams and Donald Williams are a tandem to be careful of when looking to pass their way. They have combined to pick off 15 career interceptions, together. Ulexis Williams now has now has nine career interceptions while Donald Williams has six. Two years ago, Ulexis led the MIAA in interceptions with six.

This year, Ulexis leads the team in tackling with 15 while Donald is fourth with 10.

Kirven Watch
For his 11th career game, Marco Kirven rushed for over 100-yards. He put up 129 yards on 21 carries and had his first rushing touchdown of the year from 42-yards out. He now has 2,314 career yards and needs just 1,578 to catch Lester Baker’s career record for rushing yards.

Averaging 154.5 yards per game, he is the top MIAA rusher. He is averaging 39 more yards per game than second place rusher Germaine Race from Pittsburg State (115.0).

Deadly Dimetric
Becoming more familiar with punt returns, watch out for Dimetric Lyons. In his second game of returning punts, he returned two punts for 32 yards. He is now ninth in the MIAA in punt returns averaging 8.6 yards per return. He has now returned five punts on the season.

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

“Hill"lacious Hitting
After sitting out the first game due to an injury, sophomore Brad Hill made his presence known in the WNMU backfield. He recorded two sacks for 15 yards and had five solo tackles, one forced fumble, and one fumble recovery. He was also playing at a new position in defensive end. Last year, he was a defensive tackle and had 20 tackles on the year. He also only recorded one sack last season.

Don’t Touch Deon
Deon Boykin broke open for 100-yards in the win over Western New Mexico on 16 carries. It was his fourth 100-yard career rushing game and he now has 1,492 career rushing yards. Last year, he had 142 yards against UMR and then he had 125 vs. Washburn and 122 vs. Quincy in the 2002 season.

Roming Robert
You need to watch closely what Robert Clardy might do at quarterback. Against Western New Mexico, he had two rushing touchdowns and threw for a third touchdown. He had a career long 56-yard run to give SBU a 14-0 lead and then scored the third touchdown from six-yards out. Late in the fourth quarter, he connected with Nick Smart on 13-yard touchdown pass.

Oversee the Offense
For the second straight game, the SBU offense put up more than 400 yards of total offense. In the first game of the season, SBU had 432 yards of total offense and then against Western New Mexico they had 440 yards. The running game has been the most powerful attack as they had 273 vs. Harding and 289 vs. Western New Mexico. SBU has been averaging abou 150 yards passing per game. Last year, they only averaged 356 yards per game.