Box Score Springfield, Mo. – Ninth ranked Missouri Valley pulled away from Evangel with two second half touchdowns for a 35-17 win Saturday at JFK Stadium.
The Vikings led 21-3 late in the second quarter when the Crusaders pulled closer with 34 second left in the first half on an eight yard touchdown pass from Brett Diers to tight end Blake Moss.
Evangel had chances to threaten the lead in the third quarter when DB Carsie Jones intercepted passes on Vikings back-to-back possessions on the Missouri Valley end of the field. The two turnovers did not result in points, however, as Evangel missed two field goals.
Missouri Valley then pulled away with touchdown runs of 5 yards by Darius Adams and 1 yard from Malachi Daniels.
The Crusaders got on the board again with 10:58 left in the game on a 35 yard scoring throw from Diers to Michael Bowman.
Diers ended the game going 23 for 50 passing with one interception, two touchdowns and 247 yards. Bowman led Evangel's receiving corps with four catches for 73 yards Shawn Hebert had six receptions for 71 yards. Kenney Bennett led the Evangel defense with 10 tackles.
The Crusaders dropped to 5-5 and 3-5 in the Heart of America conference. Missouri Valley improves to 7-2 and 7-1 in the league.
Evangel ends the regular season next Saturday at Graceland with a 1 p.m. kickoff in Lamoni, Iowa.
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