By Jim Henry
Globe Sports Editor
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Missouri Southern broke away in the second quarter and breezed past Lincoln University 38-7 in the Lions’ inaugural Hall of Fame Game on Saturday night.
But the biggest roar from the Fred G. Hughes Stadium crowd of 4,512 came after the Lions’ goal-line stand in the opening minutes of the second half.
Redshirt freshman Maurice Woodard broke a 70-yard run on the first play of the half to give the Blue Tigers a first down at the 3-yard line.
Lincoln picked up one yard on each of its next two plays, but on third down from the 1, Lions linebacker Dusty Bratzler tackled Maurice Henderson for a one-yard loss, and end Nick Teer and strong safety Skyler Vandiver stopped Woodard at the line of scrimmage on fourth down.
“I’ve been in a goal-line stand like that one other time, and I’ve never experienced that at the college level,” said Bratzler, who led the Lions with 10 tackles. “All the guys around me ... I have to give a shout-out to Scott Langill and Maurlon Bembry. Without those two guys, we don’t have that goal-line stand.
“We really came together as a defensive unit right there. Bend but don’t break is a cliché, but right then I looked at those guys and I knew no one had to say it to each other. We all just knew and had a confidence in us.”
“We knew they were going to try something other than their typical dive down the middle,” Teer said. “We basically were expecting something new, and I stayed to the outside. Initially we were thinking pass because we’d had three stopped runs.
We just played it well. Everybody played their assignments and we got to where we need to be. Any fourth-down stop will give a defense confidence. We’d let them get down there, so that motivated us a little more.”
“It was just what the doctor ordered,” Lions head coach Bart Tatum said. “When that long run happened, I was thinking ‘Boy, it would be nice to stuff these guys four times in a row.’ They helped us a little bit, but we had two or three really good plays in that stand.
“That was a nice momentum changer for us. Our drive after that was awesome.”
The Lion offense responded with a 98-yard drive capped by Steven Sumpter’s 24-yard run with 8:49 left in the third quarter.
The 10-play, three-minute drive included Collin Howard completions of 30 yards to Eric Botts down the left sideline on third down, 19 yards to Ne’Ronte Threat and seven yards to Landon Zerkel on fourth down-and-3 the play before Sumpter scored.
Howard completed 16-of-22 passes for 231 yards and one touchdown, a 42-yard strike to Zerkel behind the Lincoln secondary in the second quarter. Threat caught six passes for 77 yards, and Zerkel and Botts had three receptions apiece for 65 and 42 yards, respectively.
Sumpter averaged almost 10 yards per carry — seven attempts for 69 yards — and scored twice.
Special teams provided the Lions’ final touchdown midway through the fourth quarter. Jabarri Wesley blocked a punt — the Lions’ second of the game — and the ball went straight up. Players from both teams watched the ball after it hit the turf before Antwoine Brown grabbed it at the 30 and ran into the end zone.
Lincoln, which returns to the MIAA football scene next year, mounted the game’s first scoring opportunity, moving from its 20 to the Lions’ 22. But quarterback A.J. Springer’s pitchout to the right side was errant, and defensive back Demond Horsely recovered for the Lions.
The Lions covered 79 yards in nine plays for Sumpter’s one-yard touchdown plunge over right guard in the final minute of the first period.
The Lions (2-0) scored three times in the final 10 minutes of the second period to open a 24-0 halftime advantage. After Howard found Zerkel down the middle for their 42-yard TD, Howard scored on a four-yard run up the middle, and Dallas Herndon kicked a 27-yard field goal in the last minute of the half.
Lincoln (0-1) averted a shutout when backup quarterback Mason Keller found David McCallop down the left sideline for a 30-yard touchdown with 1:57 remaining.
The Lions finished with a 429-282 advantage in total offense even though Lincoln ran 67 plays, 16 more than the Lions. Lincoln picked up 221 yards on the ground, and the Lions had 179 yards rushing and 250 passing.
“We still have to find a rhythm on offense,” Tatum said. “I love what we’re doing, but we’re not in sync yet. We have 13 days to try to figure it out.”
After an open date next week, the Lions open MIAA play Sept. 18 at Emporia State.
