Football Pulls Away From Central Methodist at Home

Marshall, Mo., (Sept. 28, 2024)- The Missouri Valley College football team hosted Central Methodist (Mo.) on Family Weekend to open play in the Heart of America Athletic Conference South Division.  The Vikings used a big second half kickoff to help pull away from the Eagles for a 35-17 victory.

The opening possession of the game belonged to Central Methodist, and the Viking defense forced a three-and-out, helped by a third-down sack from Sophomore Defensive Lineman Agustus McKoy (Pahokee, Fla.) to force a punt.  Missouri Valley was near midfield on its first possession of the game, but Sophomore Quarterback Joseph Lepak (Grandview, Mo.) threw an interception in CMU territory to end the drive.  Another three-and-out followed by the Eagles, again stopped on a third-down sack, this time by Senior Defensive Lineman Ethan Towers (Chicago, Ill.).

Missouri Valley turned the ball over again on its second drive of the contest, this time on a sack and fumble.  Central Methodist tried to take advantage of the turnover, and moved down the field, eventually reaching the MVC 12-yard line.  However, another sack, this time by Senior Linebacker Eddie Rankin (Pittsburg, Calif.) resulted in a 14-yard loss, and pushed a field goal attempt to 43 yards.  The kick was no good, and the teams stayed scoreless past the seven-minute mark in the first quarter.

Sophomore Running Back Tavion Campbell (St. Louis, Mo.) picked up 20 total yards on four-straight rushing attempts, then capped off the eight-play, 74-yard drive with a 41-yard touchdown run.  The two-point conversion try was unsuccessful, and Missouri Valley held a 6-0 lead late in the first quarter.  Central Methodist took its ensuing drive into the second quarter of play, and eventually found the end zone on a long touchdown pass.  With the extra-point, CMU moved ahead, 7-6, with less than one minute gone in the quarter.

The Vikings answered back on their next drive, helped by a pair of third-down conversion completions from Lepak.  Both conversions came on receptions from Sophomore Wide Receiver Eddie Strong (Middletown, Ct.), on eight-yard and 20-yard plays respectively, to put the team inside the red zone.  The 12-play, 75-yard drive was capped by another Campbell touchdown run, this time from four yards out, and the two-point conversion pass from Lepak to Senior Tight End Markus Stepanoff (Milton, Ontario) put MVC in front again, 14-7, midway through the quarter.

The Eagles were stopped on their next drive, and Missouri Valley moved down the field to extend the advantage.  Sophomore Running Back James Phillips (Lake Charles, La.) ran for a 50-yard gain to help put the team deep into Central Methodist territory.  Phillips then ended the drive on a one-yard touchdown run, and the extra-point from Freshman Kicker Bruno Kincaid (Spain) made it a 21-7 score with less than two-minutes to play in the half.  The Viking defense came up with their first turnover, just before the break, to end a CMU scoring threat.  Senior Defensive Back DJ Dailey (Ocala, Fla.) intercepted a pass in the end zone in the final seconds to send Missouri Valley into halftime with a 21-7 lead.

Play in the second half started with MVC receiving the kickoff, and Campbell attempted a return from inside his own end zone.  He worked his way through the Central Methodist kickoff team for a 100-yard return touchdown.  Campbell tied a program and NAIA record with his return, becoming just the third player in program-history to record a 100-yard kickoff return for a touchdown.  The most recent was Deon Youngblood against Graceland (Mo.) on Nov. 1, 2014.  The extra-point from Kincaid pushed the lead out to 28-7 at the start of the third quarter.

Central Methodist responded on its next possession, and ran off 10-plays that covered 69 yards.  However, the MVC defense forced a 37-yard field goal attempt, which made it a 28-10 score.  The two teams traded their next possessions, and Missouri Valley was forced into a punt, and CMU turned the ball over on downs.  After the defensive stop, The Vikings moved down the field, and eventually reached the Eagle red zone.  A pair of penalties backed the team into a 3rd-and-long, but Lepak hit Freshman Wide Receiver Jasiah Haliburton (Edmonton, Alberta) for an 18-yard touchdown pass to finish off the drive.  Kincaid added the extra-point, and the advantage was 35-10 going into the fourth quarter.

A drive from Central Methodist carried over into the fourth quarter, and the Eagles cut their deficit to 35-17 after an eight-play drive.  Missouri Valley was unable to pick up a first down on its ensuing drive, and Senior Punter Justin Bridges (Park Hills, Mo.) got off a 52-yard punt to pin CMU at its own 16-yard line.  Central Methodist ran off 15 plays on the possession, but three of the final four plays ended in sacks.  One from Sophomore Defensive Lineman Daniel Moreno (Lisbon, Portugal), and two from Towers to force a turnover-on-downs.  Both teams had one more possession in the final minutes, and Missouri Valley came away with a 35-17 win,

Lepak finished 9 of 11 passing for 111 yards with one touchdown and one interception.  Campbell had 109 yards rushing on 18 attempts and two touchdowns, while Phillips added 71 yards on the ground on nine attempts, with one touchdown.  Freshman Wide Receiver Malik Brown (Tampa, Fla.) led with three receptions for 45 yards, and Haliburton had one reception for the 18-yard touchdown.  The team finished 6 of 10 on third-down conversion attempts.

Defensively, Senior Linebacker Adyn Schwarzer (Burleson, Texas) had eight tackles and half a tackle-for-loss.  Freshman Defensive Lineman Jentry Pendergraft (Keifer, Okla.) added eight tackles and three-tackles-for-loss, and McKoy totaled eight tackles, two sacks and 2.5 tackles-for-loss.  Towers finished with seven tackles, three sacks and 3.5 tackles for loss.  Dailey added two tackles and an interception.

Campbell added the record-tying 100-yard kickoff return for a touchdown, and finished with 132 total return yards.  Kincaid made all three extra-point attempts, and Bridges averaged 37.7 yards per punt on three punts, with a long of 52-yards.

The win moves Missouri Valley to 3-1 overall and 1-0 in the Heart South Division.  Central Methodist drops to 0-5 on the season and 0-1 in the division.

Up next, the Viking football team travels to Baldwin City, Kan., for a Heart South Division game with Baker (Kan.), Oct. 5 at 1 p.m.

Box Score-Click Here

About Missouri Valley College

Known for its dynamic, richly diverse, and friendly educational environment, Missouri Valley College offers many opportunities to grow in mind, body, and spirit. Grounded in the liberal arts, undergraduate studies empower students to master interdisciplinary skills needed to succeed in a knowledge-based global society. MVC offers over 30 academic programs, study abroad program, extracurricular activities, and a wide variety of sports. The most popular majors include education and business, criminal justice and exercise science. Above all, Valley is committed to student success. For more information, call (660) 831-4000 or visit www.moval.edu.