The Missouri Southern Lions football team have been shutout for the second week in a row. This time against Emporia State University. This is the fourth time this year the lions have been shutout, losing 48-0. The Lions defensively had a strong first quarter not allowing the Hornets to put any points on the board. Into the second quarter, the Lions did the same only allowing two field goals before the final minute of the half before senior, Braxton Marstall, threw two touchdowns to end the first half, to put the Hornets up 20-0 over the Lions. The Hornets would continue to stretch the lead over the Lions in the second half with a dominating performance by Marstall, who had 316 yard in the air for four touchdowns. The Hornets also had a good game from their running back, senior, Landon Nault who had 111 yards rushing for a touchdown. 

“It has been the same issues, this last week Emporia came to play and I said that they had a good defense and we had a couple of missed throws and dropped passes which really deflated us,” said interim head coach Joe Bettasso.

The Lions’ top performers against the Hornets were, junior, Sean Kelly who had nine completions for 104 yards, while on the defensive side junior, Korenzo Credit led the Lions in tackles with eight. Lions sophomore running back, Dalton James, who has a break out year so far, had a quiet game last week with only 51 yards on the ground, but managed to grab three receptions for 27 yards. Freshman, Alan Glanville who had three tackles in the game against the Hornets was also able to force and recover a fumble for the Lions’ defense. 

This Saturday will be the last game for the Lions’ 2018 season as they face the Pittsburg State Gorillas, who are 7-3 this season, in the Miners Bowl. Last season the Gorillas beat the Lions 56-7 at Pitt State, while the last time the Lions beat the Pitt was in 2013 in which the Lions won 35-21. The Gorillas leading passer this year is senior quarterback, John Roderique who has 1,019 yards through the air for eight touchdowns and five interceptions. Roderique also has five rushing touchdowns to add on to his leading running back, sophomore, Tyler Adkins who has 826 yards and six touchdowns. The Gorillas leading receiver is, junior, Lorenzo West who had 49 receptions for 764 yards and four touchdowns. On the defensive side, junior Creighton Sanders leads the team with 59 tackles, of which 27 are solo. Sanders also has a sack and two forced fumbles this season. 

The Miners Bowl is bigger than just the name and it’s a bigger game, not only because it’s the last game for the seniors, but because of the rivalry that the two schools have had in the past.

“Definitely a win, you know coach is also saying if we win this game it’s not about beat being a 2-9 team it’s about beating Pitt and turning the culture around here. It definitely feels like a rivalry game, it doesn’t feel like a regular game. Two years ago the atmospshere is really cool. You can just sense the hate between each team.” Said senior, Trevor Plafcan.

The game will be tomorrow November 10, at 2:00 p.m. at Fred G. Hughes Stadium in Joplin, Missouri.