SPRINGFIELD, Mo. – With just 11 days left on the calendar before its 2016 season opener, Missouri State used a strong stretch drive from its offense to end its final preseason intrasquad match-up in style Sunday evening at Robert W. Plaster Stadium.
The Bears' offense successfully converted three red zone chances into touchdowns and two more into field goals to cap the spirited 56-play situational scrimmage.
LeMarcus Stewart highlighted the evening with a pair of touchdown receptions from senior quarterback
Brodie Lambert, who finished the day 6-of-11 through the air for 94 yards.
Lambert's effort helped cap a strong preseason showing for the Bears quarterbacks, who combined to complete 72 passes for 920 yards and seven touchdowns while throwing just one interception in 141 attempts during MSU's three scrimmages over the last nine days.
All three returning signal-callers turned in key plays during Sunday's showdown.
Breck Ruddick hooked up with
Jalen Esters on a 29-yard completion, then accounted for one of the Bears' red-zone scores with a six-yard run.
Michael Briggs hit
Erik Furmanek with a four-yard touchdown toss, and Lambert found Stewart in the end zone from 18 and 31 yards out to offset an early interception by
Alexz Jones on a tipped pass.
Zach Drake spearheaded the Bears' perfect night in the kicking game, converting all three of his PAT attempts, as well as field goal tries from 31 and 24 yards out. Fellow kicker
Shelby Harris also connected on a 31-yarder.
Gerard Harker logged a one-yard scoring run and shared game-high rushing honors with
Nick Masoner, who ripped off the longest run of the night with a 14-yard outburst.
Darius Joseph and Darius Daniel each broke up a pair of passes to lead the defense, which also allowed just 2.4 yards per carry on 24 ground attempts.
The Bears open their 2016 campaign with a 6:04 p.m. contest Sept. 1 vs. Southwestern (Kan.) College at Plaster Stadium. MSU 2016 single-game and season tickets are available now by calling (417) 836-8899 or visiting
MissouriStateBears.com.
