Box Score

Bolivar, Mo. - The Southwest Baptist University football team ended their 2017 season on a high note with an impressive 52-7 victory over Lincoln on Saturday afternoon.

After a pair of punts and a fourth down stop by the Bearcat defense, SBU struck quick midway through the first quarter. On a drive that started from the Lincoln 47, Larry Nixon started things off with an 11-yard rush followed by a 5-yard rush. TJ Edwards then connected with Kendrick Payne down the sideline for a 31-yard touchdown strike to give the Bearcats a 7-0 lead. The SBU defense forced three more punts in the quarter as SBU went into the second quarter leading 7-0.

For the opening drive of the second quarter Cory Hanger picked off LU's pass, giving the ball back to the Bearcat offense. After a pair of punts, SBU doubled their lead when Edwards connected with Payne for a 52-yard touchdown pass to put SBU up 14-0. After another LU punt, the Bearcats went back to work. Edwards hit Connor Ratcliff with a 15-yard pass on the second play of the drive, and after a couple of short rushes, Edwards broke free for a 16-yard run to put SBU in the redzone. Edwards eventually hit Chris Robb in the back of the endzone to extend their lead to 21-0.

The Bearcats quickly extended their lead to 28-0 in their opening drive of the second half. SBU used a combination of short runs and pass before Edwards hit Ratcliff with a 17-yard touchdown pass. The Bearcats added a 20-yard field goal before LU responded with a touchdown after blocking a punt as SBU led 31-7 heading into the fourth quarter.
In the fourth quarter Edwards hit Payne with a 27-yard pass, Robb with a 15-yard pass, and found Ratcliff on a short 3-yard pass to extend the lead to 38-7. After a Lincoln punt, Larry Nixon busted out a 61-yard touchdown run to push the lead to 45-7. The Bearcats capped off the scoring when Hanger picked off his second pass of the day, and returned it 38-yards to help the Bearcats finish off Lincoln 52-7.

TJ Edwards led the SBU offense throwing for 338 yards and 5 touchdowns while Kendrick Payne hauled in 8 receptions for 206 yards and 2 touchdowns. On the ground Larry Nixon had a career high 169 yards rushing to go along with 1 touchdown. Defensively Brycen Gagnon led the way with 8 tackles, while De'Shawn Tone had 6 tackles, including 4.0 for a loss, and Cory Hanger picked off two passes to go along with four tackles.

SBU concludes the 2017 season 5-5 (4-3 GLVC), finishing fourth in the conference.