Lindenwood quarterback Jesse Scroggins connected with Greg Coble for a 7-yard TD with 23 seconds to play, giving the Lions a 20-14 victory over Washburn in St. Charles Thursday night on the season premier of the MIAA Football Game of the Week.

It was the second time in as many years that Lindenwood knocked off the 'Bods with a fourth-quarter TD in a tight game, and it was just the beginning of the fun in the first week of MIAA football.

Missouri Western outscored Central Missouri by 1 in the fourth quarter in Warrensburg, but ended up 1 more point short as the No. 20 Mules ended a 4-game losing streak to the Griffons. MoWest QB Skylar Windmiller threw an incomplete pass on fourth-and-long with under 30 seconds to play to seal the 19-18 Central win.

QB Garrett Fugate was an effective 18 for 32 for 233 yards and a TD in his first action as a starter for Central Missouri. Meanwhile, Skylar Windmiller threw for 313 yards but was picked twice and sacked 4 times for Missouri Western.

In Edmond, quarterbacks Chas Stallard and Treveon Albert threw for a combined 6 TDs for Central Oklahoma and Fort Hays, but it was a FG as time expired by Hays K Drew O'Brien that gave the Tigers a 30-29 victory.

Despite the play of both gunslingers, it was Hays RB Shaq Cooper who was the star of the game. He rushed for 163 yards and a score while amassing 2 more TDs and 32 yards through the air.

Central Oklahoma had one extra point blocked and another one hit the uprights in the 1-point defeat.

Elsewhere in the MIAA, Pittsburg State handled Northeastern State easily to a tune of 38-14, No. 8 Northwest Missouri blanked Nebraska-Kearney 31-0 and Emporia State knocked off Missouri Southern 38-20.

QB John Roderique rushed the ball to paydirt on Pitt's first 2 offensive plays for a 14-0 lead just 60 seconds into the game. Michael Rose rushed for a game-high 127 yards and 2 TDs for the No. 6 Gorillas.

In Kearney, UNK QB Bronson Marsh was sacked 7 times by the Bearcat defense, who pitched its first shutout since a 42-0 stomping of Missouri Southern in 2010. Senior QB Brady Bolles completed 20 passes for 211 yards and a TD each in the air and on the ground.

Brent Wilson returned from an early season-ending injury in 2014 to toss for 330 yards and 3 TDs for Emporia State. Antonio Brown had 80 yards rushing and a score and Mitchell Foote added a school record 88 yard punt return for a TD and a TD reception for the Hornets.

All in losing efforts Thursday night, the MIAA's top 4 returning rushing RBs combined for just 154 yards and a single score, averaging just 2.8 yards a carry.

Missouri Western's Raphael Spencer was the only of the 4 to find the end zone, but was held to just 30 carries on 21 yards. UCO's Jake Gandara ran for a respectable 75 yards on 18 carries, but never crossed the plane after scoring 13 times a year ago. Cotton Romero rushed for just 45 yards on 14 carries for UNK and Southern's Giresse Forchu carried the ball 1 time for just 3 yards.

The top 4 returning passers in the conference didn't fare a whole lot better. Brady Bolles was strong in a win for Northwest, but the league's 2-4 QBs (yardage wise) a year ago -- NSU's Kevin Pantastico, UCO's Chas Stallard and MWSU's Skylar Windmiller - were winless. Pantastico and Windmiller found the wrong-colored jersey 2 times each in their season-opening losses.

Week 1 attendance:

MWSU at UCM 8895
NWMSU at UNK 7853
HAYS at UCO 7159
ESU at MSSU 5987
PSU at NSU 3331
WU at Lwood 2794