MACOMB, Ill. – Trenton Norvell threw for a career-high four touchdowns, two going to Hi-C Scott, but Western Illinois could not overcome two key mistakes in a 38-27 loss to Missouri State on Saturday night (Oct. 26).

The Bears took the opening kickoff and marched 72 yards on seven plays to take an early lead on Ashton Glaser's pass to Julian Burton. Western (3-6 overall, 1-4 Missouri Valley Football Conference) went 3-and-out, and the Bears added to their lead on a 46-yard TD run by Ryan Heaston.

On the ensuing kickoff, Maddy Johnson forced a fumble on the return and the Bears recovered with excellent field position on Western's 15-yard line. MSU (3-6, 3-2) needed five plays to go ahead 21-0 following Glaser's 2-yard run.

Western's offense got rolling thanks to the defense forcing a turnover late in the first quarter. Martinez Davis recovered Heaston's fumble, forced by Gavin Ricketts, on the MSU 29. Facing 4th-and-11 from the 30, Norvell hit Scott down the sidelines for a touchdown. Nathan Knuffman's extra point attempt was blocked.

Missouri State drove down inside Western's five, but Glaser fumbled into the endzone trying to stretch out a run and Devon Butler recovered and returned to the eight. The Leathernecks used a season-high 14 plays on a drive to cover 92 yards. Western converted three times on third down and capped the drive on Norvell's 19-yard TD pass to Lance Lenoir to make it 21-13.

Western had the ball in the final minute of the first half but was forced to punt. The Bears' rush forced a block and Cedric Miller returned it 42 yards for a score and 28-13 halftime lead.

Norvell threw his third TD pass on a drive set up by David McDaniel's second interception of the season. The 33-yard drive (on four plays) was capped when Norvell hit Fredson Salomon on a 19-yard score, making it 28-20.

Missouri State responded with a 55-yard drive to make it a two-possession game and a 35-20 lead following Glaser's 1-yard run. Early in the fourth quarter Austin Witmer hit a 39-yard field goal.

Western took the kickoff and marched 85 yards. Scott caught a 32-yard pass in the drive and finished it on a 34-yard score converting on 4th-and-13. Norvell was picked off on the following drive, but the defense gave the ball right back on another fumble recovery courtesy of Kevin Kintzel. The offense, however, could not move the chains, getting stopped on 3rd-and-2, then 4th-and-1 for the final margin.

“It was a disappointing night. I don't think we played like the team we were capable of being. At the same time, give Coach (Terry) Allen and Missouri State credit. We knew coming in they're a very good football team. Early in the game, to give them the opportunities we gave them, and have them take advantage of them really put us in a hole,” said head coach Bob Nielson. “We got back to 28-20 and we gave up a long drive. We gave them good field position off the kickoff return and I don't know what that drive was, it was only 55 yards I guess. When you give up that kind of field position off the kickoff return you create opportunities. All of a sudden we're two scores down again and both times we got ourselves within one score we made mistakes in the kicking game. We did it to ourselves.

“They played a good game. They rushed the ball for almost 200 yards against us. We made some halftime adjustments and did a lot better job defending them in the second half. But when you're always battling back you can't make mistakes and we made mistakes,” said Nielson.

Norvell threw for 269 yards on 20-of-36 passing. The redshirt-freshman quarterback's four TD passes surpassed his previous season-high of three. Scott caught four passes and turned in season-highs of 104 yards and two touchdowns.

“He's (Norvell) getting better, definitely getting better. We didn't rush the ball very well tonight and some of that was credit to them, they're a good rush defense. They've played well against the rush all year. They're big, physical and have a lot of seniors,” said Nielson. “We had to throw the football tonight to move it and we did an okay job, just not consistent enough. If somebody would have told me yesterday that we were going to score 27 points I would have thought we'd be in pretty good shape. I thought four touchdowns might win this game but it didn't.”

J.C. Baker rushed for a game-high 74 yards, and caught five passes for 35 yards. Lenoir added 57 receiving yards on four catches and Salomon added 52 yards on four catches. Lenoir caught his team-leading fifth touchdown while it was the first this year for Salomon.

Kintzel and Chip Holtschlag each matched their career-high of nine tackles in the game. Gavin Ricketts doubled his previous career-high, making eight tackles.

The Fighting Leathernecks close out their home schedule next Saturday (Nov. 2), playing host to Southern Illinois. Kickoff is scheduled for 1 p.m.

GAME NOTES: McDaniel recorded his sixth career interception, now tied with Davis for most among active players… Western out-gained MSU 363-311 but the Bears held the edge in time of possession, 34:50-25:10… MSU went 7-of-14 on third down while Western was 3-of-14. The Leathernecks also went 3-of-5 on fourth down… Western won the turnover battle by one… Western has now missed four extra point attempts this year, 22-of-26… Eddy Holtschlag also doubled his previous career-high tackles total, finishing with six… Western had 7.0 tackles for a loss, two coming from Kintzel… Baker matched a season-high with his five receptions… Norvell came within nine yards of matching his season-high passing total. He now has the second-highest passing yardage season total by a Leatherneck freshman all-time (1,469)… The attendance for the night game was 3,624.