Mules roll in Homecoming over SBU, 49-24

                Senior quarterback Toby Korrodi led the Central Missouri Mules offense in every sense of the word Saturday as he went 16-of-16 for 233 yards and five touchdowns to grab a 49-24 win on Homecoming in Warrensburg against Southwest Baptist.
            In a game that saw only one punt, the Mules (4-3, 2-3 MIAA) marched down the field on the first drive of the game in five plays, covering 77 yards. Freshman wideout Rolando Sawyer caught his first career touchdown pass from Korrodi to cap the drive from 48 yards out. He would finish the day with one more score later in the game and led the Mules in receiving with 123 yards. The Bearcats moved down the field on their first drive to grab a 24-yard Ryan Smith field goal. They followed that with a 48-yard fumble return by Terry Jones after Korrodi was sacked. SBU led 10-7 at the end of the first quarter.
            Central Missouri would score the game’s next five touchdowns though, led by a balanced attack. As a team, the Mules rushed for 266 yards. They were led by senior Will Caldwell who ran 25 times for a season-high 163 yards and a score. Korrodi gave the Mules the lead with his first rushing TD of the season on a keeper from one-yard out in the second. It got ugly from there with the Bearcats turning the ball over four times. UCM turned three of those into touchdowns.
            Matt Landstra, in his first start, was a big reason for the defensive success. He picked off a pass in the endzone and led the team with 13 tackles on the day.
            Korrodi tossed a touchdown to Jeremy Braden before the break to give the Mules a 21-10 halftime lead.
            Central Missouri put the game away early in the second half with a heavy dose of Will Caldwell. He carried the ball nine times on an 11 play drive and capped it with a five-yard touchdown at the 6:21 mark of the third quarter. The series took more than six minutes off the clock.             The Mules next score came from a big effort by senior wide receiver Mike Spiegel. He caught a three-yard pass and turned it into a 12-yard touchdown catch by breaking three tackles on his way to the pylon.  Central Missouri led 35-10 at the start of the fourth quarter.
            Sawyer got his second touchdown of the day by being in the right place at the right time. Korrodi’s pass was intended for Ted Maxwell over the middle but it tipped off his hands and into Sawyer’s in the endzone.
            Central Missouri would surrender two fourth quarter scores but answered one of them with a Jason McCartney TD grab on the only pass of the drive from five yards out.
            The Bearcats finished the day with 349 yards of offense while the Mules racked up 499. Robert Clardy split time with backup quarterback John McCoy but still came away with 73 yards on the ground and a 13-of-16 performance for a couple TD’s and 114 yards in the air.
            The Mules were never forced to punt in the game and got solid performances from the defense with free safety Kendall Ricketts getting 11 tackles, a forced fumble, and a pass break-up and Rod Washington piling up nine stops and a forced fumble.
            Korrodi broke the MIAA mark for consecutive attempts without an interception with his 214th today. The old record was 199 by Zack Siegrist of Pittsburg State back in 1998. He will have a chance to break the conference mark for consecutive completions of 18 next week.