The winning streak is over for Missouri Southern football after the team fell 16-13 against Southwest Baptist Saturday night.

A big game from Brandon Williams and the rest of the Lion defense held the Bearcats to just 16 points, but penalties and mistakes kept the offense from getting started, scoring just one touchdown on a short Kellen Cox run.

“Ouch,” Head Coach Daryl Daye said after the game. “That wasn’t no fun.”

The Lions were penalized seven times for over 70 yards, mostly in the first half. This kept the team from getting anything going offensively, heading into the locker room down 3-0 at halftime.

“We’re not a first-and-15 offense,” Daye said. “We’re a second-and-five offense, so we cannot put ourselves behind the chains and in positions where we have to dig ourselves out of.”

Early in the third quarter, a 10-yard pass and an extra point put the visiting Bearcats up 10, and that’s when the Lions began their comeback.

Ne’Ronte Threatt got Southern back into the game with a 40-yard punt return for a touchdown in the third quarter. That score seemed to light a fire under the team.

The defense held the Bearcats to two straight three-and-out drives before fullback Anthony Thayer broke off a 42-yard run to end the third. Cox would end the drive with a one yard dive, but a fumbled hold on the PAT left the Lions up only three.

“It seemed like every time we got going the other night, it seemed we’d shoot ourselves in the foot …,” Daye said.

That undisciplined play didn’t work on Saturday, and it certainly won’t work this weekend as the squad travels to Warrensburg to take on Central Missouri.

The Mules are ranked as the No. 18 team in the country, according to D2Football.com.

This Southern team showed a lack of discipline against the Bearcats. Doing that again this weekend will surely put them out of contention early, but Daye is confident his players will get that under control.

“We have to improve,” he said. “We have to take our game to another level. This team will be the best team we’ve played so far in Central Missouri, so our game has to rise. We can’t play down to an opponent; we have to raise our level of play each week.”

Going into this weekend, the Central offense ranks 19th in passing nationally.

Though the Lions haven’t seen a true passing team yet this season, the team only ranks 83rd against the pass, allowing an average of 217 yards per game.

Demon Haire, junior strong safety, had an interception against SBU, and he’s confident he and his teammates can be effective and slow down the deadly Mules passing game.

“Mainly, do [my] job first, and everything else will fall into place,” he said.

Saturday won’t be all about defense, however. The Mules bring in a top tier passing game, but the Lions head to Warrensburg with the 11th ranked rushing offense in the country.

Up to now, the team has largely kept the ball on the ground, but Daye said his team will start to open up the playbook this week, including attempts to get preseason All-American wide receiver Landon Zerkel more involved in the offense.

“He’s an outstanding player, and we have to find ways to get the ball to him more,” Daye said. “That catch he made on the sideline is as top notch a catch as you’ll see a receiver make.”

Zerkel is second all-time in receptions for the Lions, but his diminished role in the new triple-option offense has all but assured he won’t catch Colin Bado’s first place mark.

Daye wouldn’t reveal how the team would get the star receiver involved per his policy against giving away any scheme in interviews, saying instead that anyone curious about the offense should come to the game and see it for themselves.

Kickoff is slated for 1:30 p.m. tomorrow in Warrensburg.