By Jim Henry

jhenry@joplinglobe.com

The $1.7 million “Jungletron” — it certainly puts the jumbo in jumbotron — was unveiled Saturday night at Pittsburg State’s Carnie Smith Stadium.

One of its many features is the ability to show replays, and it showed the replay the Missouri Southern players and fans wanted to see.

Marques Nelson’s touchdown grab in the back of the end zone with 16 seconds remaining gave the Gorillas a 21-14 victory, PSU’s 15th straight win in the rivalry.

Nelson made the catch in the back of the end zone, and Lion cornerback Skyler Vandiver attempted to knock Nelson beyond the end line to make it an incomplete pass.

But back judge Larry Smith, who was standing in position on the back line, signaled touchdown with little hesitation.

The Lion faithful believed Nelson did not drag a foot inbounds, and even the two main characters in the play weren’t sure whether it was a touchdown or not.

“Earlier in the game he juked me for a touchdown,” Vandiver said. “So I sat back, and he juked me again, but I turned to run with him and they tried to flare it over the top of me.

“I looked up, and he was coming down and I just hit him out of bounds. I thought I got him out, but I guess I didn’t. I thought I gave him a good-enough push that he was completely out. The end zone is only 10 yards, and I knew he didn’t have much room to catch it.”

“I really wasn’t sure,” Nelson said. “I looked at the ref, and he threw his hands up. And I lost my mind because it was the game-winning touchdown.”

“I kind of saw the replay,” Lions defensive coordinator Daryl Daye said, “but when his hands went up, that means touchdown. Whether he was in or not, he’s in. We have Nebraska-Omaha next week. That’s what we’re thinking about.”

The play came on third down, so even if Nelson had been ruled out of bounds, the Gorillas would have had the chance to kick a 20-yard field goal.

Rain fell throughout the game, causing both teams ballhandling problems. The Lions lost four fumbles, including one at the PSU 12-yard line, one at the PSU 23 and another at the MSSU 5 that set up the Gorillas’ second score. The Lions also came up inches short of a first down at the PSU 37 five minutes into the fourth quarter.

The Gorillas turned the ball over twice on mishandled snaps and another time on a fumble at the PSU 34, setting up the Lions’ second score for a 14-14 tie.

Pittsburg State moved 84 yards in 14 plays for their first touchdown, but the Lions had three personal fouls for 35 penalty yards in the drive, including a roughing-the- punter penalty after the drive stalled near midfield.

“Their first (scoring) drive of the game, giving up those yards in penalties, it’s tough to win against the No. 7 team in the country,” Lions head coach Bart Tatum said. “We have our work cut out for us to get better, and we’re going to start trying to get better right away.”

The Lions held a 331-283 advantage in total offense. The Gorillas had 193 rushing yards, just the 34th game in the last 22 seasons that they were held below 200 yards on the ground.

“We had three guys up front who hadn’t ever played in a game like this,” Daye said. “We wanted to see what they were. I’m anxious to see the film and see who did what, how we can improve from it.

“But overall the effort is there. It looks like the toughness is there. We have to fine-tune that. That’s our job as coaches.

“It takes a team to win,” Daye said. “I was proud of our team. I thought they went out there and got in a fistfight with a good football team and stroked them down to the end.

“Unfortunately we didn’t get the right bounce, but you get up tomorrow, go back to work. The sun is going to shine ... keep swinging punches. We have a pretty good football team. We showed a lot of courage (Saturday night).”

Two-point conversion?

Renard Johnson’s three-yard touchdown run with 2:56 remaining pulled the Lions within a point. Brian Malette converted the PAT for the 14-14 tie, but Tatum gave some thought to going for the lead with a 2-point conversion.

“It did enter my mind,” he said. “But conventional wisdom right there says just kick it and play for the overtime.”

And if the touchdown came with less time on the clock?

“I’d probably do the same thing again,” he said. “Defense was playing pretty good, and if the defense is playing good in (rainy) conditions like this ... but it did cross my mind. It sure did.”