Nov. 11—The Missouri Southern football team will close out its season with a home game against Washburn on Saturday at 2 p.m. inside Fred G. Hughes Stadium.

The regular-season finale will mark the end of the collegiate careers of 12 MSSU seniors, including Nick Williams, Jalen Dennis, Luke Taggart, Coleman Booker, Jamie Tago, Solomon Garcia, Jeremiah Hawkins, Jokiem Crawford, Richard Jordan Jr., William Williams, Dwayne Lawson and Chris Boudreaux.

"These are some guys that have been through a lot at Missouri Southern," second-year MSSU head coach Atiba Bradley said. "I can relate to them, you know, playing for multiple head coaches, playing for multiple coordinators, playing for multiple position (coaches). It makes it tough, but these are guys who have continued to work and continued to be great leaders and examples for the younger guys on how this thing should look moving forward."

This season, the MSSU senior class has already led the Lions (4-6) to their winningest season since 2014 when they went 4-7.

Southern had six total MIAA wins in their previous four full seasons (2017, 2018, 2019 and 2021) — a span that saw three different head coaches take the helm of the program.

"I just really appreciate the community, and my time here being at Southern, I just think about what we've been through as a group of seniors," said Jordan, an All-American linebacker and two-time All-MIAA selection for the Lions. "It's been a long time coming, and going out on a win would be great. I just feel like we owe it to this community and the green and gold."

MSSU will be taking on a Washburn team that's 6-4 after suffering a 37-23 loss to No. 5 Pittsburg State on Nov. 5 in Topeka, Kansas. The Lions are seeking their first win over the Ichabods since 2014 when they claimed a 42-21 triumph in Joplin.

Washburn has outscored its opponents by an average of nine points per game this year.

The Ichabods' offense, recording 407 yards of total offense per game, is led by quarterback Kellen Simoncic, who has completed 195 of 312 passes for 2,354 yards and 25 touchdowns with eight interceptions.

Six Washburn players have over 100 yards receiving on the year in James Letcher Jr. (1,005), Peter Afful (613), Taylon Peters (190), Collin Wilson (305), Tyce Brown (250) and Matthew Simmons (154).

Peters also leads the Washburn ground attack with 549 yards and five TDs on 124 carries.

"It's a good team," Bradley said of Washburn. "Offensively, they have some big-play ability with their top two receivers. I think one (Letcher) is leading the conference in receptions and yards. He's also a dynamic returner. So they've got some big play ability."

MSSU is averaging 21 ppg while surrendering 23.8 ppg to its opponents.

The Lions' offense, averaging 311.9 yards per game, is directed by redshirt freshman QB Luke Sampson, who will be making his third start of the season on Saturday. Sampson has completed 47 of 86 passes for 517 yards and four TDs with zero interceptions.

Southern has three players with triple-digit receiving yards in Boudreaux (346), Jaedon Stoshak (397) and Ezekiel Lang (425). Nathan Glades is the team's top rusher with 839 yards and six scores on 178 carries.

Linebackers Jordan, Booker and Colton Winder lead the MSSU defense with 92, 59 and 86 tackles, respectively. Jordan also has a team-high 6 1/2 tackles for loss, while defensive linemen Solomona Fetuao and Jermaine Young Jr. lead the team in sacks with three apiece.

"These guys are competitors," Bradley said. "They want to win. They want to play at a high level, and so I think they accept the challenge every week.

"The biggest thing is the win, and just so these guys can end on a positive note. You're going to remember your last game. For some of these guys, it's the last time they'll put on pads, the last time they'll be on the sideline. So you want to give those guys something they can go out with on an extremely positive note; almost a reward for all of the hard work and sacrifices these guys have done over the last five years, 18 months or however long they've been with us."

Contact Jared Porter on Twitter at @JaredRyanPorter.