Football 9/12/2018 8:41:00 AM

Bulldogs Head North Looking For First Win

KIRKSVILLE, Mo. – The first road trip of the young season will be the longest when the Truman Football team travels roughly 680 miles to play Saginaw Valley (Mich.) State on Saturday afternoon.

The Bulldogs fell to 0-2 after a 35-17 loss to #3 (NAIA) Morningside (Iowa) College on a dreary, damp day in Kirksville. Jaden Barr threw a career high 47 times, the most by a Bulldog quarterback since a 2013 game and ran the ball for over 100 yards in the loss. Lawrence Woods returned a kickoff 90 yards but two muffed punts that turned into touchdowns and a fake field goal touchdown by the Mustangs were the difference.

Following the first muffed punt, Woods returned the ensuing kickoff 90 yards to even the game. The Bulldogs jumped on top 14-7 on a four-yard run by Barr late in the first quarter. Morningside capitalized right after the second special teams turnover with a 15-yard pass to even things at 14 apiece. Josh Scheiderer connected on a 27-yard field goal for a 17-14 Bulldog lead but the Mustangs gambled on fourth and goal with the fake field goal and Connor Niles rushed in from six yards out for the lead.

Truman increased their offensive production from week one with 327 total yards but was hampered by five turnovers, two of which occurred on interceptions in the endzone. The Bulldogs converted on 14-of-22 on third downs but were 2-of-5 in the redzone.

Sagniaw Valley has been rolling in the first two weeks of action. The Cardinals won at home on week one 45-7 over Alderson Broaddus then dominated Walsh (Ohio) for a 41-10 victory.
The Cardinals have averaged over 450 yards per game offensively and held opponents to 163 yards defensively.

Quarterback Ryan Conklin has completed nearly 70% of his passes for 456 yards and five touchdowns while running backs Jermaih Johnson, Nate McCrary and De'Juan James have all averaged over 50 yards in the first two games.

This will be the first matchup between the Bulldogs and Cardinals on the gridiron. Saginaw Valley is a member of the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletics Conference (GLIAC) along with past Bulldog opponents Michigan Tech and Grand Valley State. The Cardinals were 5-6 last season after starting 2-0 playing the same two opponents this year as they did last year.

The Bulldogs remain on the road for their final non-conference game next week. Truman will play D-I FCS Valparaiso (Ind.) next Saturday at 1 p.m. The Crusaders are 0-1 and will face FCS Youngstown State this week.

About The Bulldogs…

Jaden Barr has been involved in 104 of the 137 plays from scrimmage this season. Barr has thrown 76 passes for 301 yards and run the ball 28 times for 170. His top target has been Dante Ruffin with nine catches for 95 yards and the longest of the season of 29 yards.
Jordan Salima has rushed the ball 19 times for 76 yards with a season-long of 28 from scrimmage.
Bryan Edwards, Wyatt Fishel, Lawrence Woods and Eric Yakle are among the defensive leaders. The team has the top rushing defense in the GLVC thus far allowing opponents to 98 yards per game on the ground. Sam Reeves, A.J. Devecchi and Bennett Swope have the three quarterback sacks while Travis Myerson and Jordan Siegel have the two interceptions.
Woods has been a threat in the kicking game with two returns for 116 yards and the 90-yard return for a score last Saturday. He has two career kick off returns for a touchdown.
Brock Rohler has punted the ball 10 times for an average of 41.2 with a long of 55. The Bulldogs have not allowed a punt return for any positive yardage this season.

Behind Enemy Lines…

The Bulldogs and Cardinals have had a few common opponents last season with the same degrees of success. Both lost to Michigan Tech and Grand Valley State, The Bulldogs fell last year to Tech 38-14 while the Cardinals lost 28-24. Against GVSU, Truman lost 42-7 while Saginaw lost 34-6.
Junior Ryan Conklin is in his third year as a starter. He was third in the GLIAC last season with 211.7 yards passing per game and completed 56% of this passes.
Chad Gailliard was the leading receiver a season ago with 934 yards and eight touchdowns as a redshirt freshman.
Senior Michael Alexander led the team in tackles with 94 in 2017.
The Cardinals were in the NCAA Playoffs in 2013 after a 9-2 regular season. That year their losses came in the opener to Northwest Missouri State (45-24) and in the finale to Grand Valley State (49-34). The Lakers took the rematch a week later in the playoffs 40-7.
Since that playoff appearance, the Cardinals are 13-40 but have won 10 of those 13 games the last two years (10-11).

Outside Of Conference…

Under Gregg Nesbitt, the Bulldogs are 11-10 in non-league games dating back to the 2010 season. Truman was 1-3 last year. Truman is 0-6 against teams from the GLIAC conference with three losses to Grand Valley State, two to Michigan Tech and one to Wayne State.

Inside The Numbers (Morningside)…

It was only the 12^thtime since 2010 that Truman lost a game when leading after the first quarter (28-12).
Lawrence Woods' other kickoff return for a touchdown was November 12, 2016 against McKendree, it went for 96 yards.
The 207 yards receiving by Connor Niles was the seventh most by a Bulldog opponent. The last 200-yard game by an opposing receiver was Eric Poindexter of Quincy with 217 yards in 2016. Five of the seven 200-yard games have come since 2012.
Jaden Barr's previous high of passes attempted was 35 coming in his first start his freshman season against Malone (Ohio). He attempted 47 on Saturday which was the fifth most by a Bulldog signal caller since 2010. The most passes thrown in the last decade in a game was 61 against Fort Hays State in 2012.
Niles averaged 23.0 yards per catch with a long of 47. He also added 51 yards on two kick returns with a long of 31.
Brock Rohler averaged 46.8 yards in his five punts on the afternoon. He had two inside the 20, two touchbacks and a long of 55.
Truman had one of their longest drives of the year at 90 yards, starting at their own one but ending with an interception thrown in the endzone in the first quarter.
Truman was 11-of-19 on third downs and were successful in their first six third down opportunities. Morningside was 4-of-13.
The Bulldogs were flagged three times for 20 yards.
The Bulldogs had over 35 minutes of possession time during the game with over 10 minutes in both the first and third quarters.

Sackmaster…
Junior defensive end Sam Reeves is already among Truman's career leaders in quarterback sacks and tackles for loss. Reeves is fourth on the career sacks list with 23 and nine back of the record held by Ernie Myerson and is fifth on the TFL list with 34.5, 7.5 behind Nic Abbate.

Reeves had 11.5 sacks and 16 tackles for loss last year in picking up his second straight first-team all-GLVC honor. Reeves was a national qualifier for the Truman Wrestling team and was voted the "Inspirational Student-Athlete" by his peers last year.

Returning All-GLVC…
Defensive lineman Sam Reeves and kick return/running back Malique Robbins are returning first team all-Great Lakes Valley Conference performers. Reeves was ninth in Division II in quarterback sacks with 11.5 and 42^ndin tackles for loss with 16.

Backfield mates Jacob Morris and Jordan Salima were second team honorees last year while tight end C.J. Brown and linebacker Bryan Edwards were named honorable mention.

Brotherly Love…
The 2018 Bulldogs feature four sets of brothers on the team. Connor and Jack Borisenko, A.J. and Alec Devecchi, Brock and Cade Rohler and Bennett and Brayden Swope.

Bulldogs/Bearcats Selected For National Stage…
For the second straight year, Truman and Southwest Baptist will be featured as part of the NCAA Division II Showcase package. The teams were part of the package last year from Stokes Stadium as the Bearcats downed Truman 21-17. This year's game will take place in Bolivar on October 20 and be available on the NCAA Division II Facebook Live page and produced by the Niles Media Group.

All Truman games this season are streamed free of charge on the GLVC Sports Network with a free audio stream available through KRES 104.7 FM on either IHEARTRADIO and TUNEIN radio apps.

Sportsmanship…
For the third straight year, the Bulldogs earned the GLVC Sportsmanship Award for Football. The award is voted upon by league coaches. Truman was one of the fewest penalized teams in Division II at sixth last year with just over four flags per game. They were third in Division II in penalty yards at 347 for the season or 31.5 per game.

In addition to the Sportsmanship Award, Truman placed 33 players on the Academic All-GLVC team. To earn the award, players needed to average a 3.30 GPA for the academic year.

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Players Mentioned

#92 Nic Abbate: DE; 6' 2"; Junior

#61 Jack Borisenko: OL; 6' 3"; Freshman

#98 Cade Rohler: DT; 6' 2"; Freshman

#99 Josh Scheiderer: K/P; 5' 11"; Freshman

#56 Brayden Swope: OT; 6' 4"; Freshman

#15 Jaden Barr: QB; 5' 11"; Junior

#12 A.J. Devecchi: DL; 6' 0"; Sophomore

#48 Bryan Edwards: LB; 6' 0"; Junior

#7 Wyatt Fishel: DB; 5' 7"; Sophomore

#30 Jacob Morris: FB; 5' 8"; Sophomore; National Letter of Intent

#20 Travis Myerson: DB; 6' 1"; Junior

#9 Sam Reeves: DL; 5' 8"; Junior

Players Mentioned

#92 Nic Abbate
: 6' 2"; Junior
: DE

#61 Jack Borisenko
: 6' 3"; Freshman
: OL

#98 Cade Rohler
: 6' 2"; Freshman
: DT

#99 Josh Scheiderer
: 5' 11"; Freshman
: K/P

#56 Brayden Swope
: 6' 4"; Freshman
: OT

#15 Jaden Barr
: 5' 11"; Junior
: QB

#12 A.J. Devecchi
: 6' 0"; Sophomore
: DL

#48 Bryan Edwards
: 6' 0"; Junior
: LB

#7 Wyatt Fishel
: 5' 7"; Sophomore
: DB

#30 Jacob Morris
: 5' 8"; Sophomore; National Letter of Intent
: FB

#20 Travis Myerson
: 6' 1"; Junior
: DB

#9 Sam Reeves
: 5' 8"; Junior
: DL