The Missouri Southern Lions football finished up their season last Saturday against their rivals the Pittsburg State University Gorillas. The Gorillas finished the first quarter with a lead of 14-0 from a pair of rushing touchdowns from the Gorillas and never looked back as they shut the lions out for a final score of 41-0. This is the Lions third time in a row being shutout and the fifth time this year. The Lions have fallen to 1-10 to end of the season which improves off of their season last year where the Lions went 0-11.

“The season didn’t go the way we wanted it to. We have a lot of work to do this offseason to build to be the team to where we want it to be,” said junior offensive lineman,  Mike Dzierzega. 

The Gorillas top performers of the weekend were senior quarterback, John Roderique who had 182 yards in the air and one passing touchdown. Pitt State had four players rush for a touchdown, but their top running back of the weekend was sophomore, Tucker Horak who had 81 yards on the ground and a touchdown. Their top receiver was sophomore, Brenner Clemons who had four receptions for 107 yards and a touchdown. 

The Lions this week had a rough game to finish the season with quarterback junior, Sean Kelly who had 24 yards passing and an interception. Sophomore, Dalton James had 17 carries for 53 yards while getting two receptions for another 11 yards. On the defensive side freshman, Alan Glanville had another good game this week with 10 tackles and a forced fumble. 

The Lions also honored nine seniors in Saturdays match in Erick Dedrick Jr., Aaron Leo, Brian Henderson, Toby Letterman, Desmond Payton, Trevor Plafcan, Kawan Henry, LaRonzo Davis, and Diontez Champion. 

The Lions’ team leader in statistics this year is James who had 739 yards rushing and two touchdowns. In the air Kelly had 883 yards and nine interceptions, but junior, LeEarl Patterson led the team with passing touchdowns with three. Dalton James also led the team in receptions with 25 for 136 yards, but Dedrick Jr. led the team in yards with 221 yards receiving. On the defensive side, junior, Justin Legier led the team with 77 tackles of which 42 were solo. Glanville was second with 70 of which 41 were solo. Korenzo Credit also led the defense in interceptions with three. The kicker Paul Wolff was the leading scorer for the Lions as he was 6-10 on field goals and perfect on PATs to score a total of 27 points. In second was Kelly with 18. 

The Lions will begin next season with a new head coach in Jeff Sims from Garden City in which they hope to build off of the 1-10 Missouri Southern football season.