Lindenwood linebacker Andrew Rodriguez (43) leads a crew of defenders that chase down a ball carrier in the Lions’ big win over Kentucky Wesleyan in Saturday night’s NCAA Division II football game at Hunter Stadium in St. Charles. (Photo: Steven Delia)

Scoring by Quarter1234T
Kentucky Wesleyan (1-2)7713734
Lindenwood (1-2)1414141456

by Cedric Williams
Senior Editor

ST. CHARLES — After suffering through a pair of brutal losses to begin the new season, the Lindenwood University football team dished out a bit of brutality of their own Saturday night at Hunter Stadium, when the Lions mauled visiting Kentucky Wesleyan for a 56-34 win.

The victory was Lindenwood’s first since the first round of the 2019 NCAA Division II playoffs, when the Lions defeated Ouachita Baptist, on November 23, 2019.

Needless to say, it had been a long time. And for head coach Jed Stugart and his players, picking up a victory felt really good.

“I’m just happy for our guys,” Stugart said, following the game. “We’ve had two tough weeks with two tough football teams we’ve played against. We’ve learned a lot with those experiences and we’ve still got some things we’ve got to clean up and work on. But it does feel really good to get this win here tonite.”

The two teams combined for nearly 1,000 yards of total offense, with Lindenwood putting up 499 yards and Kentucky Wesleyan having 498 yards of their own. But it was Lindenwood that was more efficient, as the Lions scored eight touchdowns on their first 10 possessions of the game.

“We’ve seen on film over the last two years how they’re a very explosive offense,” Stugart said. “So we knew we had to score. And now, we’ve won a game and the offense played well, and the defense bent and broke a little bit. So we’ve got some things we still need to work on for sure.”

Lindenwood’s offense was led by quarterback Cade Brister. The junior from nearby O’Fallon, Mo., is mostly be known for his arm, which produced 39 touchdown passes in 2019 and helped him earn Great Lakes Valley Conference Offensive Player of the Year that year.

But on Saturday, Brister did it with his feet — rushing for a game-high 91 yards and scoring a career-high five rushing touchdowns. Brister has thrown five touchdown passes in a game four different times in his career, but Saturday was the first time he had rushed for five touchdowns.

“It felt good to get a win,” Brister said. “I think we can be pretty explosive, but I think tonight was the first time we scored that many touchdowns and none of them were passing. I think that was fun for our guys, our offensive line guys to feel that and enjoy that.”

Brister wasn’t the only Lion to play well. Tailback Nash Sutherlin also had 91 rushing yards and scored two touchdowns, while backup running back Robert Giaimo scored a touchdown of his own and averaged a whopping 7.2 yards per carry, with 58 yards on just eight carries.

“I was really proud of how well we ran the ball,” Brister said. “Coach Stugart always talks about play for the guy next to you and tonight was my night, but next week it’ll be somebody else’s night. We all do it together and do it for each other.”

It was apparent the game was going to be a shootout right from the start, as both clubs scored touchdowns on each of their first two possessions. Then Lindenwood scored again to go up 21-14, before finally getting a stop to end the scoring trend.

The Lions then went down the field and scored again — on what was Brister’s third touchdown of the night — to make it 28-14 with 36 seconds left in the first half. Kentucky Wesleyan managed to get into field goal range in those final seconds of the half, but kicker Chris Mangold’s 37 yard attempt hit the left upright and bounced away no good.

The second half was when Lindenwood really began to pull away.

On the second play of the half, junior safety Sammy Muniz intercepted a pass and returned it to the Kentucky Wesleyan 10 yard line. On the next play, Brister cruised into the end zone for his fourth touchdown of the night.

Then after Kentucky Wesleyan scored a touchdown of its own (but missed the point-after attempt), Lindenwood put together an eight-play, 75-yard drive, which culminated in a 1 yard touchdown run by Brister — his fifth of the night. The five rushing touchdowns was the most a Lindenwood player scored in one game since DeDe Dorsey ran for six scores in 2005.

“You know, we try not to use him to run too much,” Stugart said. “But, and I have to give credit to our coaches for making adjustments at halftime, if the other team is going to give him room, we’re going to take it. And that’s what we did.”

A couple more Kentucky Wesleyan turnovers led to Lindenwood’s final scores — rushes by Sutherlin and Giaimo — before the visiting Panthers added on a couple of late scores to make the final more respectable.

Lindenwood will be back on the road next week, when it travels to Ohio to take on Findlay University, next Saturday, September 25. Kickoff that day is set for 11 a.m.

“Findlay is another tough team,” Stugart said. “I think they had a good win tonight, somebody told me they did. And they’re style’s a little different than ours. They like to run the ball a lot, we usually throw it a little more than we did tonight. But that’s gonna be a tough game and we’re gonna have to be ready.”

Lindenwood’s next home game will be in three weeks, when the Lions will host their GLVC home opener at Hunter Stadium on Saturday, October 9, against Quincy University. Kickoff that night will be at 6 p.m.

Kentucky Wesleyan vs. Lindenwood — Scoring Plays
1st Quarter
12:37 – LU – TOUCHDOWN – Cade Brister 20 yd run (Logan Siebert PAT) — LU 0-7
5:15 – KWC – TOUCHDOWN – David Florence 4 yd pass from Christian Arrambide (Chris Mangold PAT) — Tie 7-7
1:45 – LU – TOUCHDOWN – Nash Sutherlin 1 yd pass (Logan Siebert PAT) — LU 7-14
2nd Quarter
14:55 – KWC – TOUCHDOWN – David Florence 19 yd pass from Christian Arrambide (Chris Mangold PAT) — Tie 14-14
10:48 – LU – TOUCHDOWN – Cade Brister 12 yd run (Logan Siebert PAT) — LU 14-21
:36 – LU – TOUCHDOWN – Cade Brister 2 yd run (Logan Siebert PAT) — LU 14-28
3rd Quarter
14:03 – LU – TOUCHDOWN – Cade Brister 10 yd run (Logan Siebert PAT) — LU 14-35
10:37 – KWC – TOUCHDOWN – Chauncey Greer 17 yd pass from Christian Arrambide (PAT no good) — LU 20-35
7:13 – LU – TOUCHDOWN – Cade Brister 1 yd run (Logan Siebert PAT) — LU 20-42
3:11 – KWC – TOUCHDOWN – Quincy Perrin 5 yd run (Chris Mangold PAT) — LU 27-42
4th Quarter
14:50 – LU – TOUCHDOWN – Robert Giaimo 6 yd run (Logan Siebert PAT) — LU 27-49
9:15 – LU – TOUCHDOWN – Nash Sutherlin 2 yd run (Logan Siebert PAT) — LU 27-56
:15 – KWC – TOUCHDOWN – Jatorian Dillard 4 yd run (Chris Mangold PAT) — LU 34-56