JOPLIN, Mo. – The Pittsburg State University defense returned interceptions for touchdowns on back-to-back fourth quarter possessions to  help propel the Gorillas to a 45-31 victory over Missouri Southern State University Saturday (Nov. 12).
 
Pitt State closes out the regular season with a 7-4 record, while MSSU finishes its season at 2-9.
 
Freshman safety Creighton Sanders jumped an errant Brayden Scott pass and returned it 25 yards for a touchdown and a 38-21 Gorillas lead with 9:52 to play. Two minutes later, redshirt freshman safety Will Bazzle IV snared a Scott pass and returned it 65 yards for another TD and a 45-21 cushion.
 
Junior quarterback Ramsey Hamilton scored a pair of short rushing touchdowns in the contest, while sophomore quarterback John Roderique added a rushing score.
 
Roderique completed 21 of 37 passes for 223 yards. He added 28 yards on the ground.
 
Senior running back Dre Holman carried the ball 21 times for 79 yards, while junior wide receiver Austin Panko added six carries for 75 yards. Redshirt freshman running back Keynan Scheurich added 28 ground yards and a score.
 
Senior wide receiver Levi Copelin caught five passes for 60 yards to eclipse the 1,000 yard mark for the season. He finished the regular season with 60 catches for 1,012 yards.
 
Scott completed 23 of 46 passes for 313 yards and one touchdown in the game for the Lions. He added a pair of rushing scores and gained 87 yards on the ground.
 
Junior linebacker Ethan Fugitt made a game-high 12 tackles for the Gorillas, while senior linebacker Spencer Brown made nine stops to climb to eighth on Pitt State's all-time tackles chart with 318 tackles.