By Ryan Atkinson

ratkinson@joplinglobe.com

It didn’t take long for the Missouri Southern offense to put its big-play capabilities on display on Saturday.

Quarterback Mark Hinspeter hit Southern University transfer Mark Henderson for a 65-yard touchdown on the first play of MSSU’s first fall scrimmage at Fred G. Hughes Stadium.

“We lined up in a double-tight formation, obviously a traditional running formation,” MSSU head coach Bart Tatum said. “And we sent everyone on go routes and Adam and Mark hooked up for a great play.”

After that, however, it was the Lion defense that stole the show.

The defense, playing as the white squad, stopped the offense on four straight possessions, including a three-and-out series and a fumble recovery after a bad shotgun snap.

“We knew we had the talent on the defensive side,” Tatum said. “It was good to see them come out and fly around. It was exciting to see.”

The defensive line and linebackers found themselves in the offensive backfield quite often, especially when the starters were out of the game.

“Defensively, we’re going to be better than last year,” sophomore linebacker Dusty Bratzler said. “There is no going backward, we’re improving.”

That improvement, junior defensive lineman David Benham said, might have a lot to do with MSSU’s underclassmen.

“I was real impressed with some of the younger guys,” Benham said. “They came in and made some plays.”

The offense finally got back on the board early in the second of two 15-minute periods. After a pair of strong runs from senior Ronnell Newman, Hinspeter converted a third-and-goal from the 1-yard line by hitting 6-foot-5, 250-pound junior tight end Chris Bingham for a touchdown.

For much of the scrimmage, quarterbacks Roland Thompson, Collin Howard and Corderial Collier took turns running the offense while many of the starters on both sides of the ball watched from the sideline.

“We’re pretty comfortable with our No. 1 guys, we know what we have,” Tatum said. “Our younger guys are competing and doing a good job and we wanted to give them a chance to get some playing time.”