SWOSU Footballers Lose to Missouri-Rolla, 20-9

October 16, 2005

Rolla, MO - Southwestern Oklahoma State showed a number of encouraging signs but were unable to overcome some costly turnovers and critical mistakes, falling 20-9 at Missouri Rolla in football action Saturday.

The Bulldogs had the ball longer and gained more yards than their opponent but did not take advantage of enough scoring opportunities to keep pace with the high-flying Miners. The loss was SWOSU’s seventh straight and left its season record at 1-7. UMR improved to 5-2 on the season.

SWOSU used two quarterbacks – Steve Day and Beau Dodson – to account for 320 yards, 167 of which was through the air. The two completed better than 62 percent of their pass attempts connecting on 16-of-26 attempts.

The Bulldogs also got production from their running game thanks to the combined efforts of Terry Sampson and Steve Ihekona. Sampson carried the ball 12 times for 66 yards while Ihekona added 61 yards on 14 carries. SWOSU finished with a season-best 153 yards on the ground.

SWOSU tightened the game midway through the third quarter after trailing 14-3 on a long scoring drive. Sampson had a pair of first-down runs of 15 and 16 yards and Dodson found a wide-open Chase Pratt on a 15-yard pass play successfully converting a third-and-14 play.

Pratt’s catch gave SWOSU first-and-goal at the Miners seven. Dodson then scored on a keeper of his own to trim the Miner’s lead to 14-9 with 2:06 remaining in the third period.