KIRKSVILLE, Mo. – The #25 Truman State Bulldogs raced out to a 21-0 first quarter lead and downed William Jewell 31-10 to improve to 6-1 on the season.
Nolan Hair threw for 248 yards and had three touchdowns on the day.
On the first play from scrimmage,
Ben Thomas stepped in front of a pass for his 14
th career interception to set up the Bulldogs at the Cardinals 21. Three plays later, Hair connected with
Parker Erickson on a two-yard TD pass and at the 13:25 mark the Bulldogs led 7-0.
A three-and-out on Jewell's next possession led to a more traditional Bulldog drive. Hair engineered a 13-play, 62-yard march that was capped off by a six-yard pass to
Tate Crane.
Joseph Spaulding knocked the ball free on the ensuing kickoff and
Kendall Hutchison jumped on it at the Cardinals 26. Spaulding then took the end around on the second play from scrimmage and raced 14 yards for a 21-0 lead with 5:55 to play in the opening quarter.
William Jewell got on the scoreboard in the second quarter on a 46-yard field goal by Paul Geelen.
Truman answered with their own field goal on their next possession with
Grant Ross chipping in a 22-yard field goal.
The Cardinals scored before half to trim the lead down to 24-10 as Keaundre McCullough scored on a nine-yard pass from Taylor Eggers with 26 seconds left in the half.
The only scoring in the second half was
Mason Huskey scoring on a 45-yard catch and run from Hair early in the fourth quarter.
The Bulldogs topped 400 yards of total offense with 406, 158 coming on the ground. Huskey had 54 on 12 carries,
Denim Cook added 37 on nine rushes and Hair netted 29 yards on three carries. The offense was 10-of-16 on third downs, 4-for-4 in redzone chances and owned the ball for over 35 minutes of the game.
The defense held Jewell to 213 yards of total offense and 4-for-12 on third down conversions.
Jacob Carmack and
Ulysses Ross shared defensive tackle-high honors with six apiece.
Truman will head out for a road game against Southwest Baptist University next Saturday in Bolivar. Kickoff is scheduled for 1 p.m.