EXCELSIOR SPRINGS, Mo. – Already Winona State’s all-time leading rusher, senior Rayon Simmons put an exclamation point on his outstanding career, rushing for 198 yards as the Warriors beat Lindenwood 41-21 in the Mineral Water Bowl Saturday in Excelsior Springs, Mo. Statistics

Simmons helped lead a Warrior rushing attack that rolled up 294 yards on the ground, while the WSU defense kept Lindenwood one-dimensional. LU was able to rush for just eight yards on the day on 16 carries.

The Warrior offense set the school’s single-season total offense record after gaining 597 yards against Lindenwood. The team ended the season with 5,779 yards on the year, breaking the previous record of 5,563 set by the 2001 squad.

Simmons, the game’s offensive Most Valuable Player, rushed for over 100 yards in the first half while scoring a touchdown. The senior also caught three passes for 62 yards. Simmons ends his Winona State career with 5,256 rushing yards, the most in school history. He finished his senior season with 1,784 rushing yards, another program record.

John Teigland recorded his fourth 300 yard passing game of the season, throwing for 303 yards and three touchdowns. The Warrior quarterback was 23-of-31 passing and ends the season with 2,942 passing yards, the third-most in school history.

While Lindenwood was able to have success throwing the football, the Warrior defense completely shut down the LU rush game while also intercepting three passes. Jared Mitchell, Ryan Williams and Patrick Lazzara each picked of a pass while the defense recorded three quarterback sacks. Williams was named the game’s defensive Most Valuable Player.

Winona State ends the season with a 10-2 record, its fifth campaign with at least ten wins in school history. The win is also the team’s second victory in the Mineral Water Bowl, having defeated Missouri Western 43-41 in triple overtime in 2000.

Both teams traded long touchdowns in the first quarter, with Lindenwood scoring the first points of the contest on an 83 yard pass from Dillon Miller to Andrew Helmick. Winona State responded with a long score of its own, with Teigland finding Josh Mikes for a 73 yard touchdown. The Warriors added a 30 yard field goal by Jake Vercher to hold a 10-7 lead after the first quarter.

Lindenwood scored early in the second quarter on another long pass to Helmick to take a 14-10 lead. That was when the Warriors took over, scoring 24 unanswered points to hold a 34-14 advantage by the middle of the third quarter.

Simmons got the Warriors going with a one-yard scoring run with Anthony Resnick adding an 11 yard scoring scamper in the final minute of the first half to put WSU up 24-14. Teigland found Tyler Speer for an eight yard touchdown on the Warriors’ first possession of the third quarter while a second field goal by Vercher put WSU up 34-14 after three quarters.

A Lindenwood touchdown early in the fourth quarter made their deficit 13, but Winona State responded with a long drive that culminated with a nine yard scoring pass from Teigland to Speer to move the WSU lead back to 20, 41-21.

Speer led the Warriors with seven receptions for 77 yards and a pair of scores, with Simmons and Chichi Ojika each catching three balls.

Alex Coulter and Chris Norgaard led Winona State defensively with seven tackles while Morgan Weaver and Ryan Williams each had six. The WSU defense had eight tackles for loss, with Coulter, Parker Detjens and Colin McGuire each collecting a sack.