The No. 5 Lindenwood football team spread the ball around on offense on Saturday during a 77-33 home victory over Graceland. Nine different players scored touchdowns, including four seniors who were playing their final regular season game in Hunter Stadium.

Graceland gave the Lions an early wakeup call by intercepting Lindenwood's second offensive play and then scoring a touchdown two plays later. The Lions would pull away to a 49-19 lead by halftime though as they scored seven touchdowns the rest of the half on ten drives. Four of those touchdowns were over 25 yards, including a 26 yard reception to Jamere Holland, a 75 yard reception to Denodus O'Bryant, a 72 yard kickoff return by Mike Bunton, and a 38 yard reception to Andrew Helmick.

In the second half, Lindenwood collected three more touchdowns on its first three drives, and added a fourth quarter touchdown to complete the scoring.

Lindenwood finished with 726 yards of total offense, with 453 passing and 273 on the ground. The Lions averaged 11.5 yards per play, including 15.6 yards per pass attempt. Graceland threw for over 300 yards but Lindenwood limited them to just 66 rushing yards on 36 carries.

Special teams was another area in which Lindenwood had the advantage. Lindenwood got great field position on kickoffs, with an average field position of the 50 yard line, as Graceland tried to avoid Lindenwood's playmakers back deep. Besides Bunton's kickoff return touchdown, the Lions also scored on a failed punt attempt when Chris Howard had a one yard fumble return.

In just 30 minutes of play, Staback completed 13 of 18 passes for 385 yards and three touchdowns. He averaged nearly 30 yards per completion. David Ortega threw two second half touchdowns.

Matt Bramow had four catches for 112 yards and a touchdown. O'Bryant caught three passes for 135 yards and rushed for 44 yards. He had two touchdowns with one on the ground and one receiving.

Nate Orlando was the leading rusher with 57 yards and he scored twice. Donald Fusilier and Dan Jones had the other touchdowns. Fusilier scored on a three yard reception. Jones, who normally lines up as an offensive lineman, caught a backwards pass while split out left and went 15 yards for the score.
The defense was led by Howard and Alex Meraz who both had eight tackles. Meraz also had two tackles for loss and a forced fumble. Tyler Epstein and Brock Reed both intercepted passes, and Damian James had two pass breakups.

Game Notes: Lindenwood improves to 8-1 overall and 8-1 in the HAAC … Graceland falls to 1-9 overall and 1-8 in the HAAC … Two Lindenwood career records were broken in the contest. Philip Staback threw for three touchdowns and now has a combined 73 passing and rushing touchdowns, breaking the old record by one. Matt Bramow caught four passes in the game and now has 133 for his career, also a new standard … Lindenwood won its 24th consecutive home contest … the Lions have now won seven straight over Graceland and are 7-0 against the Yellowjackets all-time in Hunter Stadium … Lindenwood collected over 700 yards of offense for the third time this season … sixteen seniors were honored before the game, including three four-year players in Dan Carlisle, Billy Clark, and Dan Jones.