ST. LOUIS - After trailing by nine late in the fourth quarter the Spartans offense came alive fighting their way back on the way to a 29-23 victory on Senior Day.
Following Missouri Baptist University's Senior Day ceremony honoring the careers of plenty of athletes, the Spartans received the ball first and marched quickly down the field before Jordan Simpson rushed across the goal line to strike first in the contest.
Following the touchdown, the game featured back and forth action before Missouri Valley blocked a punt giving them great field position and scoring two plays later to make it 7-7 heading into the second quarter.
The Spartans retook the lead early in the second quarter as Simpson found Joseph White in the endzone from 36-yards out, making it 14-7.
Another blunder set the Vikings up with great field position late in the second as Missouri Valley came away with an interception on the Spartans' 35 yard line. Just a few plays later they broke through the line on 3rd down and broke into paydirt for a 28-yard touchdown to tie the game at 14 apiece.
The Spartans hoped to get another score before the half, but the Vikings had other plans, and pushed MBU back forcing a punt from deep in Spartan territory. Missouri Valley got a pretty nice punt return setting them up in field goal range allowing them to take a three point lead into the halftime break.
Missouri Valley scored the lone touchdown in the third quarter, but fumbled the snap on the point after attempt to make it a two-score game at 23-14.
Missouri Baptist's defense stood tall in the fourth quarter forcing three three and outs giving the offense a chance to make the comeback.
With just over seven minutes left in the contest the Spartans got the ball back with 58 yards to get to the endzone, and it took them just eight plays and Simpson found White in the endzone again to bring them within just two of MoVal.
Another three and out gave the Spartans the ball back with just over two minutes remaining, and on their third play White got free in the endzone again and Simpson got him the ball for their third touchdown of the afternoon, and a two-point conversion pass to Shane Becker gave them a six point, 29-23 lead.
The Spartans were able to keep Missouri Valley from marching down the field, and held on to win 29-23 on Senior Day.
The Spartan defense came alive in the fourth quarter led by Rakweon Ramsey, Dabrein Moss, and Zeppelin Velder. Ramsey finished the game with six total tackles, four tackles for a loss, and two sacks, and Dabrein Moss and Zeppelin Velder had some great plays down the late stretch of the game.
Simpson finished the game with 189 passing yards and three touchdown passes, and White hauled in five catches for 102 yards and three touchdown receptions.
Lionel Banks had a tremendous day rushing as he racked up 117 yards on the ground throughout the game.
The Senior Day victory puts the Spartans at five wins for the first time in program history, and the Spartans will look for their sixth win of the season next week at Graceland.
