JOPLIN, Mo — After a 58-point win on the road over Lincoln on Saturday, the Missouri Southern Lions return home to host Central Missouri for their Hall of Fame game.

#15 Central Missouri comes into this one with a 7-1 record. The Lions will certainly have their hands full as the Mules are the #1 scoring offense in the MIAA averaging 50 points a game.

A key part of this weekend will be Missouri Southern’s defense forcing the Mules off the field and keeping them off the scoreboard.

On the other side of the ball, MSSU’s offense needs to get out to a fast start and put points on the board to put some pressure and put UCM on their heels.

We spoke to the team Monday at their weekly press conference and here’s what they had to say about the importance of getting off to a fast start on Saturday.

Senior Wide Receiver Jaedon Stoshak said, “I think a big thing for our offense is, playing how we always play, whether that’s it being a nine play drive, a 12 play drive or even, the one or three play drives that we tend to have, sometimes it’s going to be, protecting the ball, too, which is something that we’ve done well this season doing. Limiting mistakes on offense to help our defense out”.

Senior Defensive Lineman Dylan Wright said, “It’s everything. We let up at all against these guys and it’ll be it could be a possibly bad game if we don’t come out and do what we need to do and execute early. So we definitely have to get on the gas quick”.

Head Coach Atiba Bradley said, “They’re a team that their defense gets stops in a row and they score in a row. And so the biggest thing is with these teams is you got to make sure that they don’t just go on a run and momentum will be huge. We’ve got to do everything in our power not to just give them big plays on offense or defense”.

The game on Saturday is slated for 2 o’clock kick-off time at Fred G. Hughes Stadium.