ROLLA, Mo. - The Truman Football team will play for the Great Lakes Valley Conference spring football championship next week after defeating Missouri S&T 46-27 on Thursday night in Rolla.
The Bulldogs turned four Miner turnovers into 24 points, including a scoop and score by Isaiah Estes late in the first half and had three straight touchdowns in the fourth quarter after Missouri S&T had closed to within six points.
The Miners struck first with Brennan Simms hitting a 13-yard pass to Ryan Langford to cap off a 13-play, 83-yard drive.
The Bulldogs answered right back with Cody Schrader scoring the first of his three TDs on a four-yard run.
Josh Scheiderer drilled a 47-yard field goal to make it 10-7.
Late in the half, Simms was sacked by Robert Greco and striped of the football, Estes gobbled it up and raced 49-yards for the score to put Truman up 17-7. Then Ben Thomas picked off Simms and Scheiderer hit another 47-yard field goal with five seconds left in the half. Both 47-yard field goals were career longs.
S&T took advantage of a short field due to penalty and got to within six at 20-14 on a one-yard run in the third.
The Bulldogs marched inside the Miner 10 but a fumble gave S&T the ball back with a chance to take the lead. However the Truman defense held strong and forced a punt.
Schrader busted a 50-yard TD run early in the fourth to put Truman back up 26-14.
After that TD, Alec Devecchi recovered a fumble and on the next play Nolan Hair hit Jake Ellis in the end zone. Ryan Olivas picked off Max Conrand again on the first play from scrimmage and two plays later Schrader was back in the end zone on a six-yard run.
Schrader finished with his third straight 100-yard rushing game with 123 yards on 18 carries. Hair was 13-of-24 for 155 yards with Dante Ruffin grabbing five balls for 54 yards and a score while Ellis caught four passes for 60 yards and a touchdown.
Reed McBroom led the defense with 12 stops.
The Bulldogs will face the winner of the McKendree at Indianapolis game that will be played on Saturday. That game will be played on the campus of the East Division champion the following Saturday.
