FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
October 20, 2007

Lions miss late shot at field goal and fall 24-23 at Central Missouri

Box Score

Warrensburg, Mo. - A 54 yard field goal attempt by Brian Malette with seven seconds to go missed just wide left as the Missouri Southern Lions came up short in their comeback attempt, falling 24-23 at Central Missouri this afternoon in the Mule's Homecoming at Walton Stadium.

Southern (5-3, 3-3 MIAA) had a chance to tie the game with 1:39 left in the fourth, but the extra point was blocked making the score 24-23. On the ensuing kickoff, the Lions would go for the onside kick, but the Mules recovered. After the Southern defense stopped Central's attack the Lions lined up for a 54 yard attempt with seven seconds to go, but the kick sailed just wide left giving the Mules a dramatic homecoming win.

Central (5-3, 4-2 MIAA) avenged last years loss at Southern to pull within one of the all-time series lead against the Lions. The Mules used three rushing touchdowns from Glenn Millner and a field goal from Marcel Velazquez to put away the Lions.

Central scored the game's first two touchdowns as Milner rushed for scores of three and one yards to put the Mules up 14-0 four minutes into the second quarter. The Lions responded, however, with two touchdowns of their own before the end of the half to tie the game at 14 at the break.

Jordan Patton picked up an interception of UCM quarterback Eric Czerniewski as his throw from the end zone led to the Lions' first score when Patton returned the ball 12 yards for pay dirt. Southern struck again when Adam Hinspeter hooked up with Isaac Norman with 32 seconds left in the half for a six yard score to tie the game going into the locker room.

Malette added a 28 yard field goal to cap off 17 unanswered points for the Lions just four and a half minutes into the second half, putting Southern up 17-14.

A Velazquez field goal (27 yards) and another Milner touchdown run gave Central a 24-17 lead with just 1:19 left in the third quarter.

Southern started its final scoring drive with 5:09 left in the fourth quarter. Hinspeter completed five straight passes and Renard Johnson had a rush of eight yards to put the ball on the Central Missouri 26 yard line. Hinspeter would complete two more passes, the latter a 12 yard catch by Ronnell Newman to the UCM three yard line before Alley Broussard took it in to cut the lead to one. The extra point failed, however, when the Mules' Dallas Bryant came through the middle to block the kick.

Southern out gained the Mules 324 to 268 today, limiting Central to just 134 yards passing. The Lions had three interceptions, but fumbled the ball once. Hinspeter was sacked six times.

Hinspeter completed 28-46 passes today for 275 yards and one touchdown. The 28 completions give him 619 in his career making him the only quarterback in Southern history to surpass the 600 mark and just the third in MIAA history. His 275 yards give him 6,649 in his career, ranking ninth in MIAA history and is just 181 yards from tying Matt Cook's Southern record for career yardage.

Colin Bado had 12 catches for the second-straight week and had 143 yards receiving. Newman had 55 yards on nine carries, including 25 through the air.

The Mules defense came up huge again this week, forcing three UCM turnovers including two interceptions from Justin Cowper. Cowper had six tackles, as well. Corderial Collier had his second straight week of at least ten tackles with 11. BJ Russow had a sack, a quarterback hurry and nine tackles, including two for a loss of eight yards.

The Lions will now re-group and get ready for a tough road contest at Missouri Western next week. Kick off is slated for 1:30 pm from St. Joseph.