JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. - Dennis Vinson celebrated Lincoln's Homecoming game by breaking two passing records, but the LU football team fell to Saint Joseph's, 27-17, on Saturday (Oct. 8).

Vinson completed 34 passes for 432 yards and a score, and the Lincoln (1-5, 0-3 GLVC) defense was once again dominant on third down, allowing the Pumas to convert on just one of their nine chances. The Blue Tigers also held a big edge in time of possession, controlling the ball for 38:02, and out-gained SJC, 502-476. The main difference was in big plays, as Saint Joseph's (4-2, 3-1 GLVC) scores touchdowns on a 69-yard pass, a 52-yard pass and a 44-yard run.

For the fifth time in six games, Lincoln shut out its opponent in the first quarter. Alex Templeton made a 45-yard field goal and Vinson scored on a five-yard run to give LU a 10-0 advantage at the end of the opening stanza. The Pumas, who were held without a first down in the first quarter, scored on the two long touchdown passes in the second period, however, to take a 14-10 halftime lead.

The Blue Tigers began the second half well, forcing a three-and-out on defense and getting the ball into Saint Joseph's territory on their opening drive, but the Puma defense forced LU to punt. On the ensuing SJC possession, Saint Joseph's reached Lincoln territory on its first two plays before scoring on a 27-yard pass. The extra point was no good, and the 20-10 margin would hold until the fourth quarter.

After the Pumas missed on a 48-yard field goal try early in the final period, Lincoln took advantage of a pair of SJC penalties to drive down to the 25-yard-line. Vinson then found Chris Othelot in the end zone for a score, pulling LU to within 20-17 of the Pumas. The Lincoln defense forced another punt, and Vinson's 58-yard completion to Anthony Townsend moved LU to within field goal range, but a bad snap kept the Blue Tigers down by three.

That ended up being as close to a comeback as Lincoln would get, as SJC needed only two plays before breaking off that long touchdown run to go back up by 10. The Blue Tigers made it back down to the SJC 19 late in the quarter, but a missed field goal kept the score at 27-17.

Vinson's 432 passing yards broke the LU single game record of 380, previously held by Sean Irons. The 34 completions broke Jacob Morris' single game record of 26, and also broke the team completion record of 30, set last season. Bryson Winfrey came one catch short of matching his school single-game reception record, finishing with 12 grabs for 98 yards. Winfrey is now just five receptions shy of breaking the program career record of 143 catches.

Townsend compiled a team-high 171 receiving yards on eight grabs, and Delvon Rouser caught seven passes for 66 yards. Deonte Latimer added 61 yards on three grabs while Justin Kelly, Will Randolph and Derrick Wilkerson also caught passes. Randolph led LU on the ground with 66 rushing yards while Vinson finished with 15.

Aaron Brown led Lincoln's defense with seven tackles, JaJuan Chambers added six and Noah Johnson and Lawrence Hogue each finished with five apiece. Jeff Jones had a tackle for loss and Anthony Mitchell tallied a pair of quarterback hurries. Brown and Willard Cotton each broke up passes. Templeton, meanwhile, averaged 63.5 yards on kickoffs with a pair of touchbacks and 37.4 yards on punts with two pinning the Pumas inside their own 20.

Lincoln will be on the road for its next two games, starting next Saturday (Oct. 15) with a 1:00 p.m. CDT kickoff in Rolla, Mo. against Missouri S&T.