By Jim Henry

jhenry@joplinglobe.com

WARRENSBURG, Mo. — For the second straight week Missouri Southern flirted with knocking off a nationally ranked team.

But No. 19 Central Missouri overcame three early turnovers and scored three fourth-quarter touchdowns to hold off the Lions 27-17 Saturday afternoon at Walton Stadium.

Wide receiver Bobby Guillory scored on a 47-yard pass and a 33-yard run on a direct snap — the “Wild Mule Formation” — and running back Anthony Stewart capped a big day with a 35-yard touchdown in the final minute as Central Missouri likely secured at least a bowl-game berth.

The Mules (8-2, 6-2 MIAA) have won eight games for the first time since 2003 and the eighth time in the program’s 112-year history. The Mules are home next Saturday against Northwest Missouri State, which locked up the conference championship with a 66-40 victory at Fort Hays State.

The Lions (3-6, 3-5) saw their two-game winning streak end but remained in a tie for sixth place in the league with Fort Hays and Pittsburg State, which lost 31-28 in overtime at Nebraska-Omaha. The Lions end their season on Saturday at home against Fort Hays.

The Lions’ offense clicked on almost all cylinders in last week’s fourth-quarter comeback at Missouri Western. But this week the Lions sputtered against the Mules, punting seven times and throwing three interceptions — one on the final play of the game.

The Lions’ best drive came in the final four minutes, moving 75 yards in 12 plays to score on Roland Thompson’s 1-yard quarterback sneak to climb within 20-17 with 1:04 remaining. The first 10 plays were passes, including completions of 24 yards to Daniel Thompson, 16 to Landon Zerkel and 12 to Stephen Poston.

“At the end of the game, when we were in a hurry-up situation, it seems like we go into attack mode,” Lions head coach Bart Tatum said. “That’s the second straight week we’ve gone right down the field. It’s not like they changed their scheme. That wasn’t a prevent (defense) you saw against our drive when we scored. They were doing everything they had been doing in the normal course of the game, bringing six-man pressure, five-man pressure, mixing up their coverages. Nothing changed. We changed, so we have to figure out how to do that earlier in the game.”

Guillory recovered the Lions’ onside kick, and on second down, Stewart broke free right up the middle for a 35-yard touchdown. Stewart, 5-foot-9, 190-pound junior, gained 134 yards on 22 rushes and 125 yards on nine receptions. His 259 all-purpose yards ranked sixth in school history.

Quarterback Eric Czerniewski hit 22-of-38 passes for 329 yards and the second-quarter touchdown pass to Guillory, who had 64 yards on three catches. Czerniewski’s 1-yard run two minutes into the fourth quarter gave the Mules their first lead 13-10.

“Our defense gave up 480 yards, and I don’t know if we could have gotten a much better effort out of anybody,” Tatum said. “The entire team played their tails off.”

Central Missouri had lost only two fumbles in nine games, but an active Lion defense recovered three fumbles in the first 17 minutes.

The Mules drove to the Lions’ 9-yard line on the game’s opening possession, but end Nick Teer’s quarterback sack forced a fumble by Czerniewski, and 305-pound nose guard Domenique Butler picked up the ball and returned it 11 yards.

On the next series Czerniewski found tight end DeMarco Cosby open in the middle of the field for a 35-yard gain near midfield, but as Cosby battled for extra yards, Lions defensive back Terrance Brady reached in and pulled the ball loose, and Jabarri Wesley recovered. On the fourth play of the second quarter, Anwoine Brown recovered Stewart’s fumble at the MSSU 39.

The Lions, however, converted the takeaways into only 10 points — Andrew Gassen’s 29-yard field goal with 3:59 left in the first quarter and Johnny Johnson’s 4-yard run for a 10-0 lead with 9:53 left in the first half.

“We have to produce,” Tatum said. “We had four schemes to get people open down the hash, and all four were open. You have to hit those, and I think we hit maybe one.”

The Lions reached the Central Missouri 28 on their second series of the second half, but Kor’Ree Manson intercepted an underthrown ball at the 1.

Roland Thompson hit 21-of-47 passes for 239 yards, including seven to Zerkel for 94 yards and five to Daniel Thompson for 62 yards.

The Lions were held to 98 rushing yards, led by Roland Thompson’s 44 yards on seven carries. Johnson and Toderick Hunt had 29 and 25 yards, respectively

“Central’s front four is as athletic as anyone in the league, and they were good today,”Tatum said.