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Truman State University Athletics

Football

Bulldogs Clip Cardinals 45-7 For 2-0 League Start

Box Score
 
LIBERTY, Mo. -  The Truman Bulldog defense held the William Jewell (Mo.) Cardinals to just 123 yards of total offense as the 'Dogs rolled to a 45-7 victory in week two of Great Lakes Valley Conference action. Chico Orlando caught a pair of touchdown passes from Conrad Schottel as Truman moved to 4-2 overall and 2-0 in the league.
 
Truman outgained William Jewell 207 to 42 in the first half and scored touchdowns in five of their first seven drives to put the game away early.
 
Facing a third and 11 in the opening possession, Schottel found Kurt Loyd for 18 yards to move the chains. The jump started the offense and on the next play Schottel hit Orlando for 14 yards. The duo of Schottel and Orlando would cap off the 9-play 50-yard drive with an 8-yard touchdown pass at the 10:04 mark.
 
Tony Pucci was the receiver of choice later in the quarter as he snared passes of 20 and 21 yards to set up a 5-yard strike from Schottel to Orlando with 2:06 left in the first quarter.
 
Early in the second, Schottel hit Loyd for his first career TD reception on a 33-yard pass to put the Bulldogs up 21-0.
 
The Bulldogs then chewed up a 12-play drive capped off by an 8-yard run from Liberty native Garrett White.
 
The defense would complete the first half scoring with A.J. Hartfield blocking Zane Kitchell's punt and Tremaine Millender recovering the ball in the Cardinals endzone for a 35-0 halftime lead.
 
William Jewell would end the Bulldogs shutout streak at eight quarters when Darrick Strzele ended a 13-play drive with a 2-yard run with 12:55 left to play.
 
Hartfield answered right back for Truman with a 2-yard TD run and another hometown product, Derek Koon, knocked in his 46th career field goal from 33 yards to end the scoring.
 
Truman topped 400 yards of total offense for the first time this season with 150 on the ground and 258 through the air. Hartfield led the rushers with 44 yards on nine carriers while Loyd led the receiving corps with three catches for 73 yards.
 
Schottel was 18-of-26 for 225 yards and three touchdown passes.
 
The Bulldogs return to Kirksville to host McKendree (Ill.) University for Homecoming at 2:00 p.m. next Saturday.
 
 
Game Notes:
  • Truman Special Teams recorded two punt blocks on the day, one by Aaron Hartfield and the other by Justin Corcoran. The last time that was achieved was against Southwest Baptist in 2012, both by Richie Schumacher. Truman has had four two-block games since 1998, Missouri Southern in 1998 and Quincy in 2001.
  • The last time Truman scored on a punt block was Schumacher against Pittsburg State in 2010.
  • The Bulldogs average field position start was their own 41 while the Cardinals started, on average, at their own 25.
  • The Bulldogs were 6-of-9 on third down conversions in the first half and led in total offense 271 yards to the Cardinals 37 yards.
  • Logan Hicks turned in his longest punt return of the season when he went for 16 yards at the end of the first half.
  • Truman held the Cardinals to just five total plays from scrimmage over 10 yards. The longest play by William Jewell was both a 15-yard pass and a 15-yard rush out of the 123 yards of total offense. The Cardinals averaged 2.1 yards per play while Truman averaged 5.8.
  • The Bulldogs were 5-of-5 in redzone chances while keeping William Jewell to just one redzone opportunity.
  • The Truman defense was creditied with 13 pass break-ups with Luke Lamar and Steven Day each having three.
  • Matthew Bell led the defense with six total tackles while Nic Abbate had all four of his tackles go for loss.
  • This is the second straight year Truman has begun conference play with a 2-0 record and the four wins in the season has matched the last three years previous win totals.

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