Bolivar, Mo. – The SBU Football team was back at home one final time in 2021, playing host to the Missouri S&T Miners on senior day. The Miners battled back and took the game by one point, defeating the Bearcats 42-41. With the loss, SBU finishes 4-7 (3-4 GLVC) on the fall season.
 
Five SBU single season records were broken Saturday, four by quarterback Cooper Callis and one by linebacker Coleton Smith. Needing 9 tackles to break the single season total tackles record, Smith's 22 was more than enough, finishing with an NCAA DII leading 161. Cooper Callis broke the passing yards (3,712), passing touchdowns (35), completion percentage (69.2%), and passing yards per game (337.5) records to cap off his impressive first full season as a Bearcat.
 
The first half was all SBU. Missouri S&T got the ball first and drove down for a field goal attempt, but Chance Deitz got his hand up for the block to keep the score at 0-0. On their first drive, SBU drove the field and scored a touchdown, as Cooper Callis found Cassian Foreman from 13 yards out. Following the kickoff, Coleton Smith forced a fumble on the next play, setting SBU up on the MST 36. From 23-yards out, Callis connected with Jarrett Massie to take a 13-0 lead. The Miners continued to struggle on offense and was forced to punt on the next drive, but Jarvis Funk applied the pressure and blocked the kick, Omari Oggs returned it for the touchdown, 20-0 SBU.
 
Funk opened the second quarter with another big play on the punt team. The Miners attempted a fake punt pass on fourth and 9, but Funk broke the pass up for a turnover on downs. Late in the quarter, MST drove the field and scored their first points of the game, 20-7. A solid return by Avery Lambert set the Bearcats up on the MST 48 with 3:27 left in the half. On the second play of the drive, Cooper Callis found Jordan Kent for a 39-yard touchdown to earn back the points they had just given up. The Miners then had a quick scoring drive as well, 27-14 with 53 seconds left. That was just enough time for the offense, as they drove the field and scored again, Callis to Kent one more time to extend their lead to 34-14 at the break.
 
The third quarter started slow, both teams struggling to move the ball. Midway through the third, SBU began to move it pretty well, and Bryce Cabrera punched it in from 2 yards out to build SBU's lead to 41-14. Missouri S&T responded with a pair of scores before the end of the quarter, cutting away at the deficit. With 33 seconds left in the game, S&T scored and took a 42-41 lead. SBU made a solid attempt in the final seconds, but they weren't able to get into field goal range.
 
Cooper Callis finished the game 30-45 for 363 yards and 4 touchdowns. Jarrett Massie was on the receiving end of 9 of those passes for 139 yards, and Jordan Kent made 7 catches for 106 yards. Coleton Smith was a monster on defense, making 22 total tackles, 2.5 tackles for loss, 1.5 sacks, and a forced fumble. Chance Deitz and Jeremiah Scroggins also had impressive defensive outings, totaling 11 tackles each.