UWF Gets Late Stops To Preserve 20-16 Season-Opening Road Win

September 3, 2017

On a night when the UWF offense wasn’t as prolific as it had been a year ago, the defense came up huge with multiple ‘bend but don’t break’ stops and two turnovers to secure the season-opening 20-16 road win over Missouri S&T at Allgood-Bailey Stadium Saturday.

The Argonauts got a huge break at the start of the fourth quarter when S&T kick returner Rod Chapman fumbled a punt that gave UWF the ball at the 19-yard line. Three plays later Mike Beaudry connected with sophomore Gage Krull inside the five before Krull carried a defender into the end zone that gave the Argos a 20-13 lead.

The Miners got four first downs on the ensuing drive but were stood up inside the 10 and had to settle for a 25-yard Ben Styron field goal – his third of the game.

Both teams traded 3-and-out possessions before the Miners made a push across midfield into UWF territory. Sitting at the 44, Tyler Swart went for a home run ball but graduate transfer Josh Marshall went up and intercepted it at the eight.

The Miners got the ball back again 59 seconds later and drove to the 8-yard line with less than a minute to play. Deshawn Jones found a seam up the middle and was hit at the three, where he launched towards the goal line but saw the ball slip out of his hands inside the one when sophomore Martes Wheeler hit him, allowing sophomore Trent Archie to recover it for the Argos and clinch the victory.

UWF (1-0) finished with 265 yards of total offense. Beaudry, a redshirt sophomore who missed last season while rehabbing a foot injury, was 20-of-31 for 192 yards and a pair of touchdown passes in his first college game. Sophomore Grey Jackson was 5-of-8 for 32 yards.

The Argonauts rushed for just 41 yards, with sophomore Chris Schwarz gaining 34 on 19 carries. He had 10 yards on five trips with a 1-yard score late in the first quarter that put the Argonauts ahead 6-0.

On defense, UWF sacked S&T’s Tyler Swart five times and limited the rushing attack to 65 yards. Wheeler led the defense with nine tackles and junior Marvin Conley added eight.

Missouri S&T (0-1) had 422 yards with 357 through the air, but committed three turnovers in its final five possessions.

The Miners held their only lead at 7-6 following a 65-yard Swart touchdown pass early in the second quarter. The Argos regained the lead with six seconds to play in the half when Beaudry found Rodney Coates in the end zone on a 25-yard pass that ended a drive that covered 75 yards on seven plays in 1:45.

UWF will return home for three-consecutive games at Blue Wahoos Stadium, beginning next Saturday, Sept. 9 against No. 24 Midwestern State (1-0).

Comments

One Response to “UWF Gets Late Stops To Preserve 20-16 Season-Opening Road Win”

  1. Rodney on September 3rd, 2017 9:53 am

    Who chooses which name to use for the park downtown?

Written by William Reynolds · Filed Under News, Sports, TOP sports