Jerome Miller

Usually when the Miners have won over the last four seasons, Ashton Gronewold has had a big hand in leading UMR to that victory.

While Gronewold had another big afternoon Saturday, a pair of freshmen were part of the lead act as well to lead the Miners to a 44-28 victory over Central State on Homecoming at Allgood-Bailey Stadium.

Quarterback Steve Watson, who was vaulted into the starter's role four weeks ago, had one of his biggest days in his young collegiate career by completing 23-of-39 passes for 271 yards and five touchdowns. He was aided by the running of redshirt freshman Jerome Miller, who had the Miners' biggest rushing day in over two seasons with 137 yards on the ground and a touchdown.

The Miners finished the day with a season-high 181 yards on the ground and had a total of 452 yards in the victory.

UMR got the lead on its opening possession by taking advantage of a big kickoff return by Antonio Williams into CSU territory. The Miners finished the 49-yard drive when Watson hit Gronewold for a 10-yard scoring pass at the 11:55.

The Miners got the ball right back on the kickoff, as Tim Valencia's short kick into a brisk wind fell between a pair of Central State players and Kirk Stilwell got to the ball to give UMR possession at the Marauder 35. On third down, Watson scrambled for a first down inside the 15, but had the ball knocked loose and CSU's Jerome Grant recovered it at the seven.

Central State took the ball 93 yards on 12 plays and ended the drive with an 11-yard touchdown run from quarterback Chris Clark, but the extra point was blocked by Jamel Anderson to allow the Miners to keep the lead at 7-6.

UMR extended its lead to 10-6 when it took advantage of a Keith Homco interception and got a 22-yard field goal from Valencia. But the Marauders came right back with a 64-yard scoring drive that culminated in a 13-yard scoring run by Derrick Moss for their first -- and what turned out to be their last -- lead of the afternoon.

The Miners regained the lead by driving 61 yards on 10 plays, as Watson hit Antonio Williams down the middle of the field for a 18-yard scoring pass with 5:11 left in the half. Then after forcing a three-and-out by CSU, the Miners scored again just over three minutes later when Watson hit Mike Greaving down the sideline for a 25-yard touchdown pass to give them a 24-12 lead that they would take to the intermission.

Watson fired his fourth scoring pass of the day on UMR's first possession of the second half as he threw a 16-yard scoring pass to Gronewold to put the Miners up 31-12 with 8:27 left in the third quarter.

The Marauders, who had little success in throwing the ball throughout the day, did get a big pass play for a score early in the fourth period when Clark hit Jerred Hill for 59 yards; a successful two-point conversion run by Moss made it 31-20.

UMR responded to that scoring by driving right back down the field, getting a 21-yard completion to Chad Shockley to get into Marauder territory and finishing the drive with Gronewold's third scoring catch of the day of 24 yards.

Central State cut into the lead again on a two-yard scoring run by VIctor Tolbert and a two-point conversion play at the 8:09 mark to make the score 38-28, but the Miners answered that scoring with another touchdown drive.

Miller started the drive with a 26-yard run, then finished the drive by going six yards for a touchdown to complete the scoring for the afternoon. The defense forced the Marauders to give up the ball on downs after a fumbled punt to ice the victory.

Gronewold finished the day with a season-high 12 catches for 154 yards and the three touchdowns; his first scoring catch of the day was his 50th career touchdown as a Miner. He ended the day with 220 all-purpose yards, marking the fifth time this season that he has surpassed the 200-yard mark in all-purpose yards.

Defensively, the Miners got 13 tackles from linebacker Jamel Anderson, who also had a pass breakup and two blocked extra point attempts. Matt Loula had two quarterback sacks and four tackles for a loss on the day, while Jon Landstra also had an interception for the Miners.

UMR will close out its home schedule next Saturday when it hosts Lincoln at 3 p.m. at Allgood-Bailey Stadium.