Game Book (PDF)
CALEDONIA, Mich. - Cody Schrader ran for a career-high 217 yards and scored all four touchdowns as the Truman Football team won their season opener over Davenport (Mich.) 31-14 on Saturday afternoon.
Schrader scored the first of his four tallies on the Bulldogs opening drive as they took the opening kickoff 12-plays for 77 yards and took 5:15 off the clock while Schrader powered in from eight yards out to give Truman the lead.
It would stay that way until a costly turnover late in the second quarter. The Bulldogs lost a fumble on a punt at midfield and following a 15-yard penalty, Deondre Ford hit Roy Livingstone for a 13-yard touchdown pass to pull the Panthers even with two minutes left in the half.
Jaylen Jefferson responded right back. He took the ensuing kickoff 81-yards to put the Bulldogs deep in Panther territory. Schrader would cap off the possession with a one-yard plunge and Truman led 14-7 with 24 seconds left in the half.
The Bulldogs set up shop at midfield on their second possession of the third quarter and Schrader busted a 26-yard carry and scored two plays later on an 18-yard scamper making it 21-7.
Davenport converted on a pair of third downs and Livingstone connected with Ford again for a 19-yard touchdown pass to trim the lead back to 21-14 midway into the quarter.
After a three-and-out by the 'Dogs, Davenport again converted on a third and 10 and third and eight to march down the field. They would fail on third and 14 but on fourth down appeared to convert but a costly holding penalty force Davenport to punt at midfield.
The Bulldogs seized that stop and Nolan Hair picked up 10 big yards on third down to turn the clock over to the fourth.
Schrader would carry the ball seven straight times to get into field goal range for Josh Scheiderer, who hit from 42-yards away, giving the Bulldogs some cushion at 24-14 with 6:04 to play.
Schrader eclisped 200 yards on the ground with his longest carry of 40 yards and scored on the next play from three, icing the win at 31-14.
The 217 yards eclipsed Jordan Salima's high of 216 from the 2019 regular season finale at Urbana and the four rushing scores was last accomplished by Salima against William Jewell in 2019 and Andy Satulla, also against Jewell in 2015.
Hair was 11-of-20 for 78 yards with Dante Ruffin nabbing five catches for 46.
The defense held Davenport to just 200 yards of offense. Peyton Carr and Ryan Olivas each had interceptions for Truman, Bennett Swope picked up two quarterback sacks and Carr and Ulysses Ross led the unit with eight tackles each.
Taylor Cornish averaged 40.5 on six punts and four inside the Davenport 20 and Ben Thomas and Landon Montgomery each had two punt returns for a total of 41 yards.
The victory was the seventh straight non-conference victory for Truman dating back to 2018 and the 63rd for Head Coach Gregg Nesbitt that ties him with legendary coach Don Faurot for second on the Bulldog all-times wins list.
Truman returns to the Wolverine State next Saturday with another key regional battle against Wayne (Mich.) State in Detroit at 1 p.m. eastern time.
