Central Methodist closed the football season at home on Saturday with an enthusiastic and action-filled win over longtime rival Missouri Valley College, 34-21, for Senior Day on Davis Field.

The win marked the Eagles’ third of the season as third-year head coach Dave Brown continues to rebuild the program. Central closes the season with a 2-4 mark in the Heart South Division. Valley concludes the year 3-7 overall and 0-6 in the conference.

Brown took over as head coach during possibly the lowest point in program history, after the Eagles went 1-10 in a season that began with the off-campus shooting death of one player at the hands of another under then-head coach David Calloway, now the defensive coordinator at Missouri Valley.

“It’s progress,” Brown said about the three-win season and rebuilding the program. “It’s going to take some time, from where we started, to rebuild some things. And getting in late and trying to get the systems where we could build a roster and get talented players… we’re starting to get to that point, but we need to take some other strides, obviously, to get over that next hump. The first step is getting those guys who believe, and I believe we’re right there. And today was a great step forward for that.”

Brown was hired late in the year after Callaway’s dilatory departure, and with a drastically reduced roster amid the lowest team morale, possibly ever. Since that time, only a handful of players stuck with the program to make it to Saturday’s exciting season finale in what is arguably the most difficult time to rebuild a small-college program. Those players are Nate Smith, Richaed McKinnies, Devin Watson, Patrick Kuehn, Rance Ledet, Tahj Write, and Caleb Justice. And all but Kuehn, a junior offensive lineman, will graduate after this season.

“We talked about doing it for those seniors who have been through a lot. Especially the guys who stayed through everything,” Brown said about heading into Saturday’s rivalry game. “They didn’t have to believe and buy in when I got here. They did. I’m so appreciative of those guys. And for those guys to stick it out, it was just awesome watching them. It wasn’t always pretty in this rebuild. They had plenty of opportunities to leave, and that shows a lot about their character and they’re determination.”

Three wins are the most in a season so far under Brown’s coaching tenure, with one win in each of his first two years. He said he was proud of how his guys put it all together for Saturday’s season finale.

“They’ve been working hard to get something that we can put all together,” he said. “We’ve had so many games this year where one side of the ball played well while the other one didn’t, and vice versa. Coming together today, and even having some adversity to overcome, I was just really proud of our guys and loved seeing them excited after something like that.”

Central set the tone in a wild opening five minutes that saw three touchdowns and a turnover. Two of those scores were by the Eagles, who built a 14-point lead with touchdowns bookending a forced fumble and recovery by the defense. Senior running back and Boonville native Dawan Lomax opened the scoring with a 13-yard touchdown rush on Central’s first drive of the game. Twenty-four seconds later, quarterback AJ Donovan connected with Max Thomas on a 33-yard touchdown pass to go up two scores. The scoring pass was set up by a Mo. Valley fumble forced by Adonis Whitley and recovered by Matthew Higginbothom at the Vikings’ 33-yard line. One play later, and Central was up two scores.

“I think sometimes this year our guys have gotten more caught up in who we’re playing instead of just executing well,” Brown said after the game. “So, this week, we didn’t really talk a lot about any of that stuff. The senior day stuff, the rivalry stuff. We told them, this is our last one together. Go put together everything we’ve learned and play our best football.”

Valley finally scored on its third possession of the game on a 30-yard touchdown pass to keep the game within one score, a margin that would hold throughout the first half, despite multiple touchdowns by both teams leading up to the midgame break.

Central went ahead 21-7 with 1:56 left in the first quarter on another touchdown pass from Donovan, this time a 24-yarder to sophomore tight end Elijah Owens.

The passing touchdown was Donovan’s second of the first quarter in only his third start this season after taking over for Jordan Gile, who sustained a season-ending injury against Baker on Oct. 25.

“Jordan had an injury a couple of weeks back, and AJ did a good job of stepping up the last few games,” Brown explained. “He did really well. He’s a highly intelligent player and made some great checks that weren’t normal for us that he was able to see. The touchdown pass to Max was awesome. He saw the look. He knew it was weird. He knew they didn’t have the coverage, and he stayed with the play. Those are some of the things he brings to the table. It’s going to be a great competition going into the off-season with Jordan back healthy and both of them with starting experience. Those two have made each other better as the year has gone on.”

Valley once again kept the game within reach. With 40 seconds left in the first quarter, quarterback Joseph Glennon seized an opening up the middle, running for a first down on a broken play. But instead of just reaching the line to gain, he sprinted untouched for 72 yards and a touchdown.

The Central defense put together a big stop early in the second quarter, forcing the Vikings to punt on fourth-and-23 from their own 6-yard line. A 22-yard punt set up Central with a short field. The Eagles only took three plays to find the endzone again, this time on an 11-yard run from Jamar Nuby. The kick from Cristobal Salga was good, again putting Central in front by two scores.

Valley would score once more in the first half, capping a seven-play, 76-yard drive with a three-yard pass to cut Central’s lead back to one touchdown at halftime.

But the second half belonged entirely to Central, as the Eagle defensive front controlled the line of scrimmage, all but nullifying Valley’s rush game.

“Our defense stepped up,” Brown said, crediting CMU’s defensive Line Coach EJ Valentine. “That’s something they’ve done a good job of all year. He has prepped those guys really well to stop the run. That’s one of our goals is to win the run game.”

The Eagles extended the lead to 10 points on a 36-yard field goal by Salga midway through the third quarter.

Salga split the uprights again with 11:45 left in the game to send the Eagles ahead 34-21.

Despite the 13-point margin, the game was hardly decided. Valley continued to encroach into Eagles territory in the fourth quarter, but twice Central’s defense forced the Vikings to turn the ball over on downs. Central all but iced the win with a 10-yard sack by Braylon Hawkins of backup Valley quarterback Joseph Glennon on the MVC 46-yard line with 4:02 left to play.

From there, Central burned the final four minutes off the clock to claim victory on Senior Day.

“We knew we had to get those last couple of first downs to really get that thing done, and that’s what our guys did,” Brown said.

Donovan had an efficient day, completing 11-23 passes for 159 yards and two touchdowns. He connected with seven different receivers, finding Jaylen Joseph and Nuby three times each, while connecting with tight ends Thomas and Owns on touchdown passes.

Perhaps the most significant difference in the game was the rushing attack. Central netted 194 yards on the ground, while holding Valley to just 72. The Eagles have a two-pronged rushing attack. Nuby picked up an even 100 yards on 22 carries with a touchdown. Lomax added 99 yards on 20 rushes and a touchdown.

“That’s a credit to our offensive line. They were not easy looks to run against,” Brown said, adding that it was important to establish the run considering the windy conditions. “Then situationally, we knew we had to run the ball when they knew we were going to. That’s something we’ve talked about since day one. And to see it all come together in the last game was something special.

“Something I learned a long time ago, if you can run when they know you’re going to run it, you’re going to win the game.”

Both Central and Missouri Valley finished the season with three wins each. Conference standout Benedictine captured the program’s second outright Heart South title on Saturday and locked in an automatic berth in this year’s FCS at the No. 5 seed with a 10-1 overall record.

Meanwhile, Central continues to look toward the future. The Eagles have had just three winning seasons over the past two decades. And now, with the state of college football, Brown admits it’s never been more difficult to turn around small football programs. “They look at guys way above making money, and they are paying to go to school to do it. And sometimes you lose guys just because they can’t afford it. So that adds to the turnover that everybody has. At the small college level, especially, it’s become really challenging. We have to get guys who love to compete, who love football, and who will be great teammates. If we can get that, we will continue to build to where we want to go.”