TRUE GRIT: Lions upset No. 19 Griffons, overcome special teams miscues in win

Nov. 11—It was a wild game on Saturday but Missouri Southern never turned away from the battle in a double-overtime game against Missouri Western State University.

The Lions showed grit by overcoming a fumbled snap on a punt in the first half that resulted in points for the Griffons, a missed field goal and two missed point-after touchdown attempts.

MSSU (5-6) dove past MWSU (8-3) in the second bonus period when senior running back Anthodius Ashley dove across the goal line on a 4-yard carry to win the game 47-41.

"Honestly, I already knew, this might be my last play, so I knew I had to give it all I got," Ashley said. "One way or another, I had to get in the end zone. Luke (Sampson), he told me, 'Whatever you do, hold the ball.' So, that's what I did and the rest is history."

History it is. This is the Lions' first win in an overtime game since 2001 when they defeated Emporia State on the road. This is the program's first five-win season since winning seven games in 2013. It's MSSU's first win over a ranked opponent since that same season, when it defeated No. 6 Pittsburg State 35-21 at PSU to close the regular season.

'Springboard'

"It's a big win but it's a stepping stone," MSSU head coach Atiba Bradley said. "There's not one person in that locker room that said, 'Hey, we want to go 5-6.' Guys are excited. We're going to use this as a springboard to figure out a way to get to 8-3 and 9-2."

It took six plays and 29 seconds for MSSU to drive 81 yards and tie the game with no timeouts.

The Lions got the ball trailing 34-26 at their own 19-yard line after forcing a punt with about 40 seconds left in the game. A fair catch by Jaedon Stoshak left them 32 seconds to drive that 81 yards.

The first pass was a quick 11-yard chunk play to Ezekiel Lang from quarterback Luke Sampson. Then it was 18 yards on a connection to Akeem Gilmore. Gilmore was tackled inbounds so the Lions had to spike the ball on the next play, leaving them with just 16 seconds after two plays with 52 yards to go.

Enter the deadly Sampson-Stoshak combination. Sampson hit Stoshak for 21 yards on the left sideline between levels of MWSU's prevent defense to the 31 of the Griffons and out of bounds

Timeout Western with 12 seconds left.

Then it was Sampson to Stoshak for 15 more to the 16-yard line with seven seconds to go.

The Griffons use their last timeout.

It didn't require any scientific method to know Sampson would look for his big 6-foot-5 tight end inside the red zone. But the Griffons still couldn't stop a connection on the seam route up the middle of the field to Deontay Campbell for a touchdown to make it 34-32.

The two-point conversion was successful on a Sampson pass to Lang in the back of the end zone to force overtime.

With three seconds left, the next kickoff ran the clock out.

Overtime

In overtime, MSSU started with a short touchdown run after passing its way down to the 1. Sampson snuck it in on a run behind center.

MWSU kept itself in it by converting on fourth and 14 on its first OT possession. The Griffons scored a couple plays later with a touchdown pass.

The second extra period was started with Western on offense. The Griffons quickly picked up first and goal from the 10. Then it was second and goal from the 6.

Then it was former Griffon turned Lion Nick Kruse's turn to save the day. Kruse came around the edge and dropped MWSU quarterback Armani Edden for a loss of five on a designed run play, setting up third and goal from the 11. Kruse did it on the very next play by getting his hands on a pass, bobbling it for a bit and pulling down the interception to give MSSU a prime opportunity to win.

"Like I said Monday, my last game is going to be their last game," Kruse said of playing his former team. "So, I'm glad we could do it."

MSSU potentially spoiled MWSU's shot at the postseason with this upset.

Kruse thought the game was over on his interception, though, and spiked the ball and received an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty which forced the Lions to start their drive at the 40 instead of the 25.

"I wouldn't have done that otherwise," he said. "I thought the game was already over for some reason."

The Lions only needed a field goal, though. Coach Bradley has talked about trusting kicker Drake Reese's leg from almost anywhere in plus territory. But, obviously you try to get closer if you can. And they got a lot closer.

MSSU's first play was a deep shot to Stoshak who burnt his defender on a streak route and came down with the catch at the 4-yard line. Ashley ran it in on the next play to win the game.

'Luke's IQ'

The drive to tie the game was very unlikely and required a lot of quick connections for big gains that really stood out to Stoshak.

"There's definitely doubts going into it but there's also lots of confidence in our offense," Stoshak said. "Him having that IQ... knowing when it got down to like 15 seconds, 'Hey, that first read's going to have to be the one.' He's got that arm strength to fit it into a tight window. ... Luke's IQ came into play there."

It wasn't just that drive that saved the chance at an upset.

Trailing 34-20 in the fourth quarter, the MSSU offense was near midfield and was looking to score and get within one score of MWSU. The Lions hadn't turned the ball over on offense yet in the game. But Sampson tried to hit a guy over the middle of the field and the Griffons' Brayden Wright intercepted the pass at the 35-yard line of MWSU.

It looked like the game could be over with just eight minutes left and the Griffons getting possession ahead by 14. But three plays later, senior defensive back Ian McSwain jumped a pass in man coverage and intercepted it for the Lions.

McSwain had no one in front of him and 50 yards of a free run ahead.

"I was looking back trying not to get caught," he said with a laugh. "It was just a big momentum swing. It felt like everything changed real quick."

STATS

MSSU intercepted Edden three times and held him to 16 of 26 passing for just 140 yards and one touchdown.

Sampson was 24 for 36 and a new career-best 374 yards. He had four touchdowns and the one interception.

Redshirt freshman Seth Cromwell was huge for Missouri Western all game with 32 carries, 170 yards and three rushing touchdowns.

MSSU's running game only totaled 28 yards on 23 attempts.

Stoshak caught seven passes for 112 yards and one touchdown in the final game of his career. Campbell added six grabs, 94 yards and a score. Lang had five for 66 yards. David Bethune caught a touchdown pass as well as Nick Panella.

Evrin Hawkins and Colton Bass led the team with nine tackles. Carmelo Hollingsworth had the first interception of the game for MSSU.