SPRINGFIELD – Missouri State racked up 476 yards of total offense and snagged three interceptions in the second half to neutralize visiting Lindenwood here Saturday in a 28-14 Bears’ win in their home opener.
Missouri State quarterback Jacob Clark completed 28-of-33 passes for 302 yards and a pair of touchdowns, while running back Jacardia Wright carried 21 times for 143 yards and a pair of scores. Wright wound up with 208 yards of total offense, while Hunter Wood also contributed to the victory with a career-high 10 pass receptions for 90 yards.
Clark’s 84.8 pass completion percentage established a new Missouri State single-game record.
P.J. Hall, Dylan Simmons and Todric McGee each accounted for an interception to lead the Missouri State defense. The trio halted three of Lindenwood’s first four possessions of the second half with a pick.
Tahj Chambers also racked up a career-high 13 total stops to pace the MSU defense.
Clark opened up the scoring on MSU’s first drive of the night, taking just six plays to cover 85 yards before he hit a sprinting Jmariyae Robinson for a 32-yard TD strike. Clark was 4-for-4 on the drive with two first-down passes to Robinson and one to Wood.
Later in the opening quarter, Clark capped an 86-yard scoring drive, the team’s longest of the campaign, with a 10-yard pass to tight end Lance Mason to make it 14-0.
Wright’s three-yard TD rush early in the second quarter gave the Bears a 21-0 lead. He carried four times for 18 yards on the possession in addition to a 15-yard pass. A third-down completion to Mason kept the drive alive and ultimately helped extend the lead when Wright scored moments later to make it a 21-0 game just over 20 minutes into the contest.
Clark completed his first 11 passes of the night and finished the half 15-of-19 for 195 yards and a pair of TD strikes, while Wright carried 13 times for 89 yards on his way to his third career 100-yard rushing game.
With 5:38 left in the second quarter, Lindenwood quarterback Nate Glantz capped a 79-yard scoring drive for the Lions, calling his own number for a one-yard TD rush to put the visitors on the board. Steve Hall, who ended the night with 13 carries for 100 yards, carried five times for 60 yards on the drive.
The Bears racked up 301 yards and 19 first downs in the opening half to take a 21-7 lead into the intermission.
MoState (1-2) came out of the locker room firing on all cylinders to start the second half with Wright extending the Bears’ lead to 28-7 on a four-yard TD run at the 10:04 mark. Clark was 5-for-5 on the 75-yard scoring drive with an eight-yard completion to Robinson on third-and-six from the Lindenwood 12 sustaining a critical possession.
That was all the scoring the Bears would need as they drove into LU territory four times on their last five possessions of the game, but were unable to extend their lead.
The MoState defense took care of the rest as the trio of interceptions frustrated Glantz and the Lions. He finished 13-of-22 for 122 yards. Backup QB Tyler Kubat played the final series of the game for Lindenwood and hit Jeff Caldwell with a long pass over the top of the MSU defense for a 79-yard TD strike with one minute left in the game.
The Bears will wrap their non-conference schedule next Saturday at UT Martin (6 p.m.) before returning to Robert W. Plaster Stadium on Sept. 28 for Family Weekend and the MVFC opener against Youngstown State (2 p.m.).
Tickets for the Youngstown State game are available at MissouriStateBears.com or through the Missouri State box office at Great Southern Bank Arena, (417) 836-7678, during regular office hours.
