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| Derek Drussa (77) and Brian Jordan |
Senior Day turned into a record setting show for the Miner football team as it finished the 2006 campaign with a 62-6 win over Kentucky Wesleyan at Allgood-Bailey Stadium Saturday afternoon.
The win allowed the Miners to finish above .500 for the second straight season at 6-5, the first time UMR has done that in over two decades. In addition, the 62 points tied the UMR modern day record for points in a game, tying the total scored in a 62-14 win over Pittsburg State in 1984.
UMR needed only a minute and five seconds to get the ball rolling Saturday, as Joe Winters -- one of the record setters in the game -- hit Mike Greaving down the sideline for a 70-yard touchdown pass, as Greaving was able to break away from two Panther defenders on his way to the end zone.
Tim Valencia followed by kicking the first of his eight extra points in the game that both tied the UMR single-game record and broke the single season mark established last year by Marc Armbruster. Valencia finished the year by making 42 of his 44 extra point tries.
Valencia added two field goals in the opening quarter of 23 and 32 yards before the Miners found the end zone again. This time, it was Ashton Gronewold who hauled in a 24-yard scoring pass down the middle of the field that gave the Miners a 20-0 lead after only 11:04 had expired.
Winters, who threw three scoring passes on the afternoon to finish with 35 on the season, scored his first via the run 10 seconds into the second quarter on a two-yard scamper to cap a 52-yard drive. Entering the game as the NCAA Division II leader in total offense, Winters would finish the afternoon by completing 25 of 43 passes for 326 yards and running for a team-high 54 to end up with 380 yards on the day.
For the season, Winters set new records at UMR with 3,731 yards of total offense and 3,724 yards through the air.
The Miner defense, which showed great improvement in the second half of the season, got the next two scores for UMR. Daudi White picked off a pass and ran it back 27 yards for a touchdown midway through the second quarter, then blocked a punt early in the third period that Robbie Woodard ran back 10 yards for another touchdown.
In between the two scores, the Panthers got their only points in the game when Vance Woods caught a deflected pass from Ward Tanner for a 21-yard touchdown reception with 1:44 left in the first half.
Following Woodard's touchdown, the Miners added three more scores with Matt Padilla scoring on a 25-yard pass from Winters and then getting the final two scores with redshirt freshman Jason Aubrey at the controls.
Aubrey threw a 31-yard touchdown pass to Gronewold on a fourth down play to make it 55-6, then wrapped up the scoring on a short drive after a turnover by scoring on a two-yard run in the final minutes.
Gronewold finished another impressive season for the Miners with six catches for 102 yards and the two scores, putting his season totals at 78 catches for 1,120 yards and 15 touchdowns. Through three seasons at UMR, Gronewold has 191 receptions for 2,699 yards and 39 touchdowns; he has 42 career scores counting three kick returns.
On top of those marks, Gronewold set several single-game and career receiving marks during the year and also broke the single-season record for all-purpose yards as he finished with 1,788, one of three UMR players to end up with over 1,000 yards in that department with Padilla and Brandon Landry.
UMR's leading receivers in the finale, however, were Padilla with nine catches for 75 yards and Greaving with 127 yards on his seven receptions. Seven different Miner players caught passes in the contest.
The defensive unit, meanwhile, forced six turnovers as it held the Panthers to 266 yards of total offense. Avian Jordan and Tommy Humphrey also had interceptions for the Miners.
In addition to the individual records that fell Saturday, the Miners also broke team records for passing yards (3,860) and extra points scored (42). UMR also had five returns for touchdowns during the season.
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