The No. 2 Lindenwood football team won its top 10 showdown at Hunter Stadium with No. 8 Missouri Valley, 45-27, Saturday night.

Both teams had quick touchdown drives to start the contest. On the third play of the game, Philip Staback found Jamere Holland for a 58 yard touchdown drive. The Vikings took advantage of good field position after the kickoff to tie the contest four plays later.

The teams traded punts until Lindenwood's Jason Young sacked Missouri Valley's Chris White and forced a fumble which Keenan Mace recovered near midfield. For the second time on third down, Staback completed a long touchdown pass, this time finding Matt Bramow for a 43 yard strike.

Midway through the second quarter, Missouri Valley added a touchdown off Lindenwood's lone turnover of the night. The Vikings took six plays to go 80 yards to tie it with 8:58 remaining. Lindenwood answered right away with a 10-play drive that was capped off by a 10 yard run by Denodus O'Bryant. The Vikings nearly tied it before half, but Hakim Thomas picked off White's pass in the redzone and Lindenwood went into half up by seven.

In the third quarter, Lindenwood pulled away from the Vikings by increasing its lead to 35-14. The defense allowed just 51 yards in the 15 minutes and the offense scored both times it touched the ball. The first score was a seven-yard run by Staback, and the second was O'Bryant's second rushing touchdown of the game from 14 yards out.

The Vikings added two touchdowns in the fourth quarter but Lindenwood also scored 10 on a field goal by James Neal and a two-yard touchdown run by Nate Orlando.

The Lions compiled over 500 yards of offense against a Missouri Valley defense that had allowed just 161 yards total in its first two games. Lindenwood averaged nearly eight yards per play and nearly five yards per rush.

Staback threw for over 400 yards and had two touchdown passes and a touchdown run. Both Holland and Bramow had 100-yard receiving games. Holland caught 11 passes for 158 yards and Bramow hauled in seven passes for 135 yards. O'Bryant led the rushing game with 53 yards and two scores, and Orlando finished with 38 yards.

Defensively, the Lions had three turnovers and held the Vikings to just 2.7 yards per rush. Missouri Valley had 303 yards passing, but 126 of those yards came on two big plays over 60 yards.

Dan Carlisle led the defense with nine total tackles, two tackles for loss, and a sack. Cody Fogle posted eight tackles. Chris Howard had the other fumble recovery.

Game Notes: Lindenwood improves to 3-0 on the season while Missouri Valley falls to 2-1 … Philip Staback's 400-yard passing game was the fourth in Lindenwood history … Holland has had a 100-yard receiving game all three games this season and Bramow has two … Lindenwood won its 22nd straight HAAC contest and its 21st consecutive home game … Lindenwood has another top 10 showdown next week at No. 6 MidAmerica Nazarene.