Lindenwood quarterback Alex Faddoul looks for someone to throw to, while teammates protect him and defenders chase after, during Saturday’s GLVC football game against Missouri S&T at Allgood-Bailey Stadium in Rolla, Mo. (Photo: Cedric Williams)
| Score by Quarter | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | 4th | F |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lindenwood (8-2, 6-0) | 19 | 14 | 3 | 7 | 43 |
| Missouri S&T (5-5, 3-3) | 0 | 0 | 10 | 6 | 16 |
by Cedric Williams
Senior Editor
ROLLA, MO. — The 2021 season began with a pair of rough losses for the Lindenwood University football team, but it rebounded with several nice wins that helped the Lions gain control in the Great Lakes Valley Conference standings.
Then injuries became a key issue for Lindenwood, with several starters going down, including their Player of the Year-candidate quarterback Cade Brister. But again, the Lions were able to recover and put together a winning streak that had them on the precipice of winning the GLVC championship for the second time in three seasons.
But then Lindenwood lost their backup quarterback Cole Dugger too, and were forced to play starting wide receiver Alex Faddoul under center, all while still trying to win the title.
Yet somehow, someway, none of those negative issues seem to matter, as the Lions just kept winning, and came into Saturday’s matchup against Missouri S&T on a seven-game winning streak and looking to lock up the GLVC title. And that’s exactly what Lindenwood did, as it blasted S&T, 43-16, for its eighth straight win to officially claim the 2021 GLVC championship.
“I just can’t tell you how proud I am of these guys and our coaching staff,” Lindenwood head coach Jed Stugart said following the game. “It’s been a tough year. We got off to that rough start, with the loss to Angelo State and getting whipped around a little bit by South Dakota State. But these guys just came together after that and said they weren’t gonna let it happen again. And they haven’t. They’ve been just great every week. I couldn’t be more proud.”
The Lindenwood players celebrated some, but not a whole lot after the game. There was no Gatorade bath for Coach Stugart and no big party on the field. Instead, the players just congratulated each other and talked about out the regular season the right way, with one more game on the schedule, next week against McKendree.
“You know, I was gonna leave it up to them to decide how, or even if, we celebrated winning the title,” Stugart said. “But you saw how (senior defensive back) Jordan Perry was walking down the sideline at the end, telling everybody there would be no celebration. And once J.P. called it, I was with it. So I thought we handled it well… But I kinda expect that Gatorade thing might happen next week, in front of our home fans, if we close it out right. But don’t give anybody any ideas though, okay.”
The players didn’t celebrate much, but they definitely played like a team that knew what was on the line. The Lions pounced on S&T right away, scoring 19 points in the first quarter and taking advantage of every mistake the host Miners made.
First, Lindenwood recovered a fumble on a muffed punt deep in S&T territory. Then just three plays later, the Lions turned that into a touchdown, when Faddoul, the former quarterback-turned receiver-turned back into a quarterback, scrambled out of trouble on what was supposed to be a pass play, for a 25-yard touchdown that put Lindenwood on the board.
“Everybody was covered on that play,” Faddoul said, after making his first start at quarterback in almost three full seasons. “I tried to move to give guys time to get open, but then I felt somebody getting close and I just tried to get away. He had my leg, but I spun out of it. I stiff-armed a guy and next thing you know, I was diving into the end zone for a touchdown. It was great. That was fun.”
And that play seemed to energize the entire Lindenwood squad, as the entire offense, even guys who weren’t on the field during the play, ran over to congratulate Faddoul on the touchdown.
The defense got into the act too, as three plays into S&T’s next possession, safety Grady Daniels intercepted a pass and returned it 25 yards into S&T territory. The return was nullified by a penalty, but Lindenwood still had the ball and quickly converted it into points, thanks to a 24 yard field goal by placekicker Logan Seibert.
The Lions weren’t done though. They stopped S&T on downs on its next possession, then quickly turned that into points, when Faddoul found a wide open Spencer Redd for a 48-yard touchdown that made it 17-0.
“I wasn’t concerned at all about having Alex back there,” Stugart said. “He played quarterback before. He knows the offense as well as anybody on the team. As you saw, he had no trouble back there and he’s completely confident. So I’ve got no problem having him back there and using him to run our entire offense. I thought he did fine.”
Faddoul finished 20-of-30 passing for 315 yards with the touchdown throw to Redd and two touchdown runs. The second of those scoring runs came early in the second quarter, after Lindenwood gained possession following a safety against S&T, when a bad snap on a punt was recovered by their punter in his own end zone.
“Again, I have to credit our coaching staff about the focus they point on the importance of turnovers and taking advantage of them,” Stugart said. “You know, you’ll see on tape, a lot of times where guys make mistakes that could be a turnover, but they get away with it because nobody’s around and they’re able to get the ball back.
“Like on that muffed punt, if our guys had eased up and backed off, when he bobbled that ball if nobody was around, he could’ve got it back. But we were there and we recovered it. And on the bad snap, if nobody was there, the punter could’ve picked it up and still kicked it away. But we were there and tackled him right away to get the safety and those two points. I think we’re somewhere near plus-9 or plus-10 on turnovers. Our coaches stay on these guys about looking for those opportunities.”
Lindenwood got another turnover near the end of the half, on an interception by junior Darion Bolden, and then turned that into points just before the half, on a touchdown run by running back Robert Giaimo. That score was the freshman’s team-leading ninth of the season, and sent the game to halftime with the Lions up 33-0.
The second half wasn’t nearly as eventful, as both teams struggled some to move the ball. S&T did kick a field and scored two late touchdowns to make the score more respectable. But the play of the half, was a perfectly executed coverage play by senior linebacker Drew Seers that led to an interception, which he returned 49 yards for a touchdown.
“Again, I’m just so proud of these guys,” Stugart said. “You could see it in practice this week, and the last couple of weeks. They’re focus has been so great. They know we’re working towards something. And we have a goal we’re trying to reach. And they’re pushing each other to everybody be better. And you can see it out here on the field. This is a great group. I’m proud.”
Lindenwood is now 8-2 on the season, and 7-0 in GLVC play, and will look to close out its regular season with a perfect conference record when it hosts McKendree at Hunter Stadium, next Saturday, November 13. After that, the Lions, who were ranked No. 5 in last week’s Super Regional rankings, will look to see if they earned a spot into the NCAA D2 playoffs.
Usually, the top seven teams make the playoffs, with the top seed getting a bye week and seed 2-4 getting a home game in their first round playoff matchup. Lindenwood only has one loss against a Division II opponent this season and is unbeaten in games against teams in its region.
So the Lions will almost certainly clinch a playoff spot with a win next week, and could move up into the top 4 and earn a home playoff game, if it wins and plays well against McKendree.
“We know what’s at stake,” Stugart said. “And these guys know, McKendree’s a good team. It’s not gonna be easy. But these guys have worked hard for what they want all year. I expect that to continue.”
Kickoff for the McKendree game on Saturday, which is also Senior Day for Lindenwood, is scheduled for 1 p.m.
| Lindenwood vs. Missouri S&T — Scoring Plays |
| 1st Quarter |
| 10:22 – LU – TOUCHDOWN – Alex Faddoul 25 yd run (Logan Seibert PAT) — LU 7-0 |
| 4:31 – LU – FIELD GOAL – Logan Seibert 24 yd field goal — LU 10-0 |
| :48 – LU – TOUCHDOWN – Spencer Redd 48 yd pass from Alex Faddoul (Logan Seibert PAT) — LU 17-0 |
| :41 – LU – SAFETY – Bad snap recovered in own end zone — LU 19-0 |
| 2nd Quarter |
| 13:54 – LU – TOUCHDOWN – Alex Faddoul 9 yd run (Logan Seibert PAT) — LU 26-0 |
| 1:27 – LU – TOUCHDOWN – Robert Giaimo 4 yd run (Logan Seibert PAT) — LU 33-0 |
| 3rd Quarter |
| 7:34 – S&T – FIELD GOAL – Zach Glaess 36 yd field goal — LU 33-3 |
| 4:45 – LU – FIELD GOAL – Logan Siebert 37 yd field goal — LU 36-3 |
| 1:10 – S&T – TOUCHDOWN – Payton McAlister 2 yd run (Zach Glaess PAT) — LU 36-10 |
| 4th Quarter |
| 7:52 – LU – TOUCHDOWN – Drew Seers 49 yd interception return — LU 43-10 |
| 5:09 – S&T – TOUCHDOWN – Josh Brown 32 yd pass from Luke Hertzler (2-pt pass failed) — LU 43-16 |
| Lindenwood Lions Football Upcoming Schedule |
| Sat., November 13 — vs. McKendree — 1 pm |
| Sat., November 20 — NCAA Division II Playoffs — TBA |
| All Lindenwood home football games will be played at Harlen C. Hunter Stadium |