Lindenwood quarterback Cade Brister fires a pass, while his linemen protect him during Saturday’s NCAA Division II football game against Quincy at Hunter Stadium in St. Charles. (Photo: Cedric Williams)

Scoring by Quarter1234T
Quincy (3-3)777728
Lindenwood (4-2)71401233

by Cedric Williams
Senior Editor

ST. CHARLES, MO – The Lindenwood University football team enjoyed a wild Homecoming Day victory over Great Lakes Valley Conference opponent Quincy University, 33-28, Saturday afternoon at Hunter Stadium.

Quarterback Cade Brister had a big day for the Lions, as he completed 23-of-28 passes for 285 yards and three touchdowns to lead the way.

Freshman running back Robert Giaimo, who took over as the starter last week, carried the ball 19 times for 119 yards — his third straight 100-yard game — to help Lindenwood control the ground game.

Giaimo had a touchdown as well, but was also responsible for two fumbles that helped keep Quincy in the game and even resulted in him being benched momentarily.

Defensively, the Lions were led by defensive back Kai Ross, who had a monster day forcing turnovers. The junior from California, forced a fumble, recovered it, and had three interceptions which sent the loud Homecoming Day crowd into a frenzy.

“This is very cool,” Ross said. “I’ve got a lot of family here. A bunch of them came down from Iowa to watch me today and I was just glad I gave them something good to see.”

Ross wasn’t the only one producing turnovers on Saturday. Lindenwood turned the ball over five times, but with Ross’s help, also forced five turnovers themselves, in a game where both teams experienced huge shifts in momentum.

There was even one sequence during the third quarter, where Quincy threw two interceptions, but Lindenwood gave the ball back on fumbles on the next play both times.

The second Lindenwood fumble during that six-minute span, led to a touchdown for Quincy that tied the score at 21.

“People keep saying it was a fun game,” Lindenwood head coach Jed Stugart said. “I’m wondering, fun for who? It was back and forth, and driving me nuts the whole time. That was not a fun day for coaches at all.”

Things got even worse on Lindenwood’s next possession, when the Lions drove down the field to Quincy’s 11-yard line for a chance to re-take the lead, but then a tipped Brister pass was intercepted by Quincy’s Peyten Chappel and the visiting Hawks had the ball again.

Fortunately for Lindenwood, its defense stiffened and forced Quincy to punt. Then the fourth quarter began and Lindenwood’s offense got rolling again.

First, the Lions drove 56 yards on seven plays for a score — a 7-yard touchdown pass from Brister to tight end Clint Sigg — that gave them the lead. The touchdown, a spectacular one-handed grab, was Sigg’s second of the day.

“That’s something I really try to focus on,” Sigg said. “I really to be a guy my teammates can count on. Whether it’s getting open and catching passes, or making my blocks on the line, it’s really important to me to be somebody these guys can count on.”

The defense forced another punt on Quincy’s next possession and Lindenwood went right down the field to score again.

Sigg caught an important third down pass that kept the drive going, and Giaimo added a thunderous 26-yard run through Quincy’s defense that moved the ball to the Hawks’ 20-yard line.

Brister then hooked up with receiver Glen Gibbons on the next play for a touchdown and Lindenwood had its biggest lead of the day.

“I wasn’t real happy with how we played today,” Stugart said. “But I was very proud of the resiliency these guys showed in finding a way to win this game. You’re not often going to win games playing like we did today, but we somehow did it. And I’m very proud of that.”

Even being up by two touchdowns with less than two minutes to go, the excitement wasn’t over. First, Quincy got a 27-yard touchdown pass from Tionne Harris to receiver Eugene Witherspoon, his second of the day and GLVC-leading 12th of the season. Then the Hawks almost recovered the onside kick, after it was bobbled by Lindenwood’s Mann McGruder.

“You see this hair, it’s gonna all fall out or go gray and then fall out after a game like this,” Stugart said. “You know, you play how you practice and our focus wasn’t good at practice this week. You could see that out here today. We’ve got to fix that if we want to be where we want to be at the end of the year.”

The key play of the first half was a 97-yard kickoff return by Lindenwood sophomore Spencer Redd. Quincy had just scored a touhdown to tie the game and had all the momentum.

But Redd took it away with a scintillating kick return that began near the right hashmark, where he received the kick, but quickly moved through the Quincy return squad to the left sideline. That’s where Redd turned on the jets and outran everyone for the first touchdown of his college career.

“That’s something our special teams coach Bryan Baldwin really emphasizes,” Stugart said. “(We’re) trying to make plays on our kick returns and punt returns. And we’ve had a couple of big ones. We’ve had a couple that we thought were gonna go, get called back on a penalties. So it was nice to see Spencer finally get one. He works so hard it at.”

That play helped Lindenwood go into halftime ahead 21-14. It also led to the crazy back-and-forth turnover scenario in the third quarter that gave both teams a chance to take over the game.

Fortunately for the home team, they found their rhythm first and were able to pull out the victory.

“I’m proud of these guys, but we’ve got work to do,” Stugart said.

The victory, Lindenwood’s fourth in a row, raised the Lions’ overall record to 4-2 and gave them a 2-0 mark in conference play. Quincy, on the other hand, fell to 3-3 and 1-1 in league play.

Next week, Lindenwood will be back on the road for another huge game against Indianapolis (4-2). The Greyhounds were the preseason pick to win the GLVC this year and are currently tied with the Lions for first place in the league standings.

“That’s a good team and that’s gonna be a tough game,” Stugart said. “But I think our guys learned some about how important it is to practice hard and focus on what we should be. We’re going to have to be ready next week. Our guys seem to like going on the road, so hopefully we’ll be ready to play our best next week.”

Lindenwood’s next home game will be in two weeks, when the Lions will host Southwest Baptist, on Saturday, October 23, at Hunter Stadium. Kickoff that day is slated for 1 p.m.

Quincy vs. Lindenwood — Scoring Plays
1st Quarter
11:20 – LU – TOUCHDOWN – Clint Sigg 13 yd pass from Cade Brister (Logan Siebert PAT) — LU 0-7
9:33 – QU – TOUCHDOWN – Eugene Witherspoon 41 yd pass from Tionne Harris (Michael Klotz PAT) — Tied 7-7
2nd Quarter
14:28 – LU – TOUCHDOWN – Robert Giaimo 2 yd run (Logan Siebert PAT) — LU 7-14
8:59 – QU – TOUCHDOWN – Taylor Temple 2 yd run (Michael Klotz PAT) — Tied 14-14
8:45 – LU – TOUCHDOWN – Spencer Redd 97 yd kickoff return (Logan Siebert PAT — LU 14-21
3rd Quarter
5:35 – QU – TOUCHDOWN – Taylor Temple 33 yd run (Michael Klotz PAT) — Tied 21-21
4th Quarter
11:07 – LU – TOUCHDOWN – Clint Sigg 7 yd pass from Cade Brister (PAT failed) — LU 21-27
5:32 – LU – TOUCHDOWN – Glen Gibbons 20 yd pass from Cade Brister (2-pt pass failed) — LU 21-33
1:53 – QU – TOUCHDOWN – Eugene Witherspoon 27 yd pass from Tionne Harris (Michael Klotz PAT) — LU 28-33
Lindenwood Lions Football Upcoming Schedule
Sat., October 16 — at Indianapolis — 5 pm
Sat., October 23 — vs. Southwest Baptist — 1 pm
Sat., October 30 — at William Jewell — 1 pm
Sat., November 6 — at Missouri S&T — 1 pm
Sat., November 13 — vs. McKendree — 1 pm
All Lindenwood home football games will be played at Harlen C. Hunter Stadium