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The Lindenwood football team got off to a quick start on Saturday afternoon at Hunter Stadium against Central Missouri, the first Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association (MIAA) team that the Lions have faced in program history. The Mules scored 30 unanswered points at one point and defeated Lindenwood by a 47-28 margin.

On the first play of scrimmage against its future conference rival, Lindenwood's Denodus O'Bryant rushed for an 84-yard touchdown score. After holding the Mules to a field goal on their first possession, the Lions' Andrew Helmick had a big kickoff return to set the team up near midfield. Five plays later, Lindenwood scored on a five-yard pass from John Uribe to Terance Jackson. The big offensive play on the drive was a 43-yard pass from Uribe to Helmick.

Lindenwood forced a fumble in the red zone on the Mules' next possession, but the rest of the game was almost all Central Missouri.  The Lions picked up just three more first downs offensively in the first half, and the Mules scored two touchdowns and kicked a field goal to lead 19-14 at halftime.

In the third quarter, Central Missouri put the game away by outscoring Lindenwood 28-7. Lindenwood's lone touchdown was set up by another O'Bryant run. This one was for 70 yards down to the Central Missouri nine-yard line. On the next play, Therman McGowan finished the final nine yards when he outran the defense to the right-hand corner of the end zone.

Lindenwood added seven more points in the fourth quarter when Helmick had a great catch after getting one-on-one coverage with his defender, and he reached the ball across the goal line for a 44-yard touchdown strike.

For the game, Lindenwood finished with 370 yards of offense, including 168 on the ground and 202 through the air. Central Missouri had 531 yards, including 429 passing. The Lions had one more turnover in the game but were just four-of-16 on third and fourth-down plays, compared to eight-of-16 for the Mules.

Lindenwood's offense was led by its big two of O'Bryant and Helmick. O'Bryant rushed for 179 yards on just 11 carries, and he finished with 227 all-purpose yards. Helmick caught nine passes for 147 yards and had 191 all-purpose yards. Uribe finished with 202 yards passing.

Defensively for the Lions, Tyler Epstein had 11 tackles and a fumble recovery. Christian Golder recorded eight tackles, one tackle for loss, and one fumble recovery. Justin Broome intercepted a pass, forced a fumble, and had a pass breakup. Sean Gracy had two sacks.

Game Notes: Lindenwood falls to 7-3 on the season and Central Missouri improves to 7-3 … the Lions fall to 2-2 on the season against NCAA Division II programs … the loss snaps Lindenwood's 26-game regular season home winning streak … Denodus O'Bryant had the 14th-best rushing day in Lindenwood history … Andrew Helmick moved to fifth in Lindenwood's single-season reception (54) and receiving yards (858) lists, and is second for single-season receiving touchdowns (11), one shy of the record … John Uribe threw at least two touchdown passes for the fifth straight game … the crowd of 4,531 was one of the largest home crowds in Lindenwood's history.