Lincoln allowed five turnovers and nearly 300 rushing yards in a 28-20 home loss to Saint Joseph's on Saturday afternoon at Dwight T. Reed Stadium in Jefferson City.
Saint Joseph's jumped out to a two-score lead, but the Blue Tigers responded and kept the game close until a 21-yard touchdown reception by E.J. Woody put the Pumas up eight points for good.
Braxton Shelton rushed for 165 yards for the Pumas and Kobi Cook added 87 yards. Morris Henderson led the Blue Tigers on the ground with 117 yards.
The teams were fairly even through the air. Tate Borlik of Saint Joseph's threw for 154 yards on 12-of-26 passing, and Dennis Vinson and Owen Jordan combined for 151 yards through the air for Lincoln. Vinson replaced Jordan as quarterback to start the second half.
Each team threw two interceptions. Robert Daniels returned an interception for a 34-yard touchdown, and Kerry Roby also had an interception for the Blue Tigers. Jamyl Scott and Gary Yeoman had picks for the Pumas.
Alphonso Hines led all receivers with 84 yards on five catches, and Khiry Draine led Lincoln with 61 yards on three catches.
Shelton started the scoring with touchdown runs of 6 and 8 yards. The first was set up when the Pumas recovered a Jordan fumble on the second play of the game. Lincoln bounced back with Daniels' interception return and a 3-yard run by Jordan. Then, Cook and Henderson traded TD runs of 4 and 1 yards, respectively, before Woody's score.
Lincoln falls to 1-5 on the year and 1-4 in the Great Lakes Valley Conference. St. Joseph's is now 5-1 (2-1 in conference) on the year. Lincoln hosts Texas College at 2 p.m. Saturday for Homecoming.