The Blue Tigers, who rushed for 359 yards on the afternoon, put together a 92-yard scoring drive – with all of the yardage picked up on the ground – to score the game-winning touchdown. Keller scored on an option play to the right side and was able to outrun the Miner defense to the front corner of the end zone to cut the lead to 20-19.
Lincoln elected to go for the two-point conversion after the touchdown and Nick Daniels, who ran for 190 yards on 34 carries from the fullback position, carried the ball over the goal line to put Lincoln in front.
S&T got its last chance as it started from its own 46-yard line and quarterback Steve Watson connected on the first play with Chad Shockley for 23 yards to put the ball at the Blue Tigers’ 31. However, Watson was sacked on second down for a loss of six, then was sacked again two plays later by Johnny Beautelius to end the rally effort.
The Blue Tigers broke on top on their opening possession of the game, as they blocked a punt to set up shop at the Miners’ 38-yard line. Keller kept the ball on an option play and ran 14 yards for the score to cap that drive.
S&T answered the Lincoln score with a 52-yard drive that followed a Smook Thomas kickoff return. The Miners kept the ball on the ground for much of the drive and scored on Ryan Taylor’s nine-yard run to knot the score at seven.
The Miners then took the lead early in the second quarter when Steve Watson hit Thomas for a 35-yard scoring pass on a fourth down play; Thomas caught the pass just outside the 10-yard line and slipped past a pair of Lincoln defender s to get into the end zone.
S&T had a good chance to add to its lead later in the quarter when Thomas tried a halfback option pass, but he overthrew a wide open Chad Shockley.
The Blue Tigers gave themselves a good scoring opportunity before the half ended with a 19-play drive that reached S&T’s 24-yard line, but that drive came up short as the half ended.
Lincoln did score to open the second half, driving 84 yards on 11 plays and getting into the end zone on a five-yard run by Daniels. LU cornerback O’Hara Fluellen, who was filling in as the Blue Tigers’ placekicker Saturday, had his extra point attempt blocked to keep the Miners in front at 14-13.
The Miners drove deep into Lincoln territory twice in the third quarter, but was only able to come away with field goals on both occasions. S&T got down to the LU 11-yard line on its first possession of the second half, but had to settle for a 28-yard field goal from Joe Drahos.
On S&T’s next drive, it moved all the way to the Lincoln three-yard line after a 24-yard connection from Watson to Shockley and an 11-yard run by Ryan Taylor. However, that drive stalled as well and Drahos kicked a 20-yard field goal to make it 20-13 with 1:45 left in the third period.
The Blue Tigers threatened to score early in the fourth quarter, but Keller was stopped on a quarterback sneak on fourth-and-one at the S&T 20. The Miners had to punt the ball back to Lincoln a little over three minutes later to set up LU’s game-winning drive.
Lincoln outgained the Miners 365-199 on the afternoon. S&T finished with just 40 yards on the ground – Taylor had a team-high 51 – while Watson completed 12-of-22 passes for 159 yards and the one touchdown to Thomas.
Shockley, playing in his final game at S&T, had eight catches for 84 yards to put his name into the record books. The eight catches gave him 87 for the year to tie Ashton Gronewold’s single season mark set in 2007, while he broke Gronewold’s receiving yardage record as he finished the 2010 campaign with 1,198 yards.
For his career, Shockley finished second on S&T’s all-time lists with 206 receptions, 2,652 yards, 22 receiving touchdowns and 3,251 all-purpose yards.
Missouri S&T finished the 2010 season with a record of 3-8.
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