Game: Coverage:
GLVCSN.com/Truman (PPV)
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TrumanBulldogs.com
Live "in-game" stats are produced and available for media and fans to follow along during the game.
 
KIRKSVILLE, Mo. – The final regular season road trip has the Truman State Football team heading to Liberty, Missouri to face the upstart William Jewell Cardinals for a 3 p.m. kickoff.
 
With two games left, the Bulldogs are locked into a three-way battle for second place in the Great Lakes Valley Conference race and potentially a shot at the America's Crossroads Bowl game. Upper Iowa, Truman State and McKendree are each 4-2 in conference games. The Bulldogs won at Upper Iowa but lost to McKendree while the Peacocks and Bearcats square off in Lebanon, Illinois this weekend.
 
Truman State picked up its fourth conference win and fifth overall win with a 52-7 blitz over Lincoln (Mo.) on Saturday at home. It was the 12^th straight season in which the Bulldogs have secured a .500 or above record within league play.
 
The Cardinals enter with a 4-5 record under first-year head coach Jason Ambroson, who has strong ties with the William Jewell program and traditionally strong local high school programs. The four wins by Jewell this season match their highest win total since the 2015 season.  The Cardinals have taken presumptive conference champion Indianapolis to overtime this season before losing 23-20 and one of the teams tied with the Bulldogs for second place, Upper Iowa to extra plays in a 38-31 overtime road loss.
 
Truman is on its longest current winning streak over William Jewell having taken the last nine games and lead the overall series 15-8-2. The Bulldogs defended their home turf with a 31-10 victory in the 2023 contest.  Touchdowns were scored on the Bulldogs' first three possessions and they outgained the Cardinals 406-213 while also owning a 10-minute advantage in the time of possession.
 
William Jewell's last win was in Kirksville in 2014, their last five-win season, 21-17.
 
 
Last Time Out:
Lincoln fumbled the opening kickoff and the Bulldogs capitalized by scoring their first of seven touchdowns on the day in their 52-7 victory. Dylan Hair was an efficient 12-of-16 for 287 yards and accounted for four touchdown passes. Hair had two 53-yard passes, one to Noah Copeland and another to Elijah Stevens while also tossing a 42-yard pass to Jackson Overton, 29-yard pass to Kel Battle and a 24-yard pass to Christopher Kerr.
 
Combined with backup Bennett Ellsworth, the Bulldogs posted a season-high 305 passing yards while the defense held Lincoln to a season-low 26 yards rushing.
 
Hair now leads the GLVC with 19 touchdown passes and has entered the single-season top 10 at Truman State with that total. He is currently tied with Dusty Burk (2002), Eric Howe (1999) and Jeff Frost (1988) while one back of matching his brother Nolan's total of 20 set in 2021. He has thrown 12 TD passes in the last four games.
 
Overton nabbed his ninth receiving touchdown of the season and now sits tied for second on the single-season list. He is tied with Mike Berentes (1970), Lloyd Henry (1977), Fontaine Walker (1990) and Kevin Collins (2000) and is two behind the leader Larry Tisdale's 1985 school record.
 
The Cardinals traveled to Quincy for the "Battle of the Birds" trophy game. The Quincy Hawks scored 17 points in the second quarter to lead 17-10 at the break and held on for the 24-20 win. Quincy's Teon Dollard scored on a 44-yard touchdown run in the fourth quarter to break a 17-all tie while Jewell responded with a field goal to close the gap but turned the ball over on downs in their final two drives to come up short.
 
Freshman quarterback Jake Shaffer completed 13-of-29 passing for 153 yards and gained another 49 yards on the ground. The league's top running back, Keaundre McCullough was held below his season average of 139 yards rushing to a season-low 52 yards. McCullough started the season with a bang by shattering the GLVC single-game rushing record with 402 yards and five touchdowns in a win over Fort Lewis (Colo.). He was only 23 yards shy of the Division II single-game record.
 
Through Nine Games:
The Bulldogs are averaging 175 yards rushing and 214 yards passing through nine games. They are third in the league in scoring at 30.6 points per game and third in rushing and fourth in passing.
 
Denim Cook is fifth in the GLVC rushing race with 824 yards on 156 attempts. Cook has eclipsed 100-yards rushing twice this season with a high of 182 yards against Missouri S&T. He is 176 yards shy of a 1,000-yard season and would be the 16th Bulldog back to achieve that feat.
 
Dylan Hair is third in the conference in passing yards with 1,875 and tops in TD passes with 19. Hair's top passing game is 287 yards with four TDs against Lincoln and has also gained 400 yards on the ground.
 
Like Hair, Jackson Overton leads the conference in touchdown receptions with nine and is sixth in receiving yards per game at 60.1. Overton and Christopher Kerr have over 20 catches each with Overton gaining 541 yards on 33 grabs and Kerr catching 25 for 294 yards.
 
Brock Jones is the leading tackler on a defensive unit that surrenders 25.3 points per game with 349 yards of total defense. Jones has 57 stops with 4.5 for loss and two quarterback sacks. SJ Johnson is second with 43 and Jake McCollum is third with 42.  McCollum and fellow senior Peyton Carr are the elders of the team with both having now played in 45 career games. Carr is the active leader in tackles with 240.
 
Jake Closser has 10 career interceptions and will crack the Bulldog top 10 on his next pick. Closser is fifth all-time in interception return yards with 182. The Bulldogs have picked off six passes this season.
 
Ulysses Ross is now third all-time in tackles for loss with 38 during his 44 games played. Ross has 224 career tackles with 12 quarterback sacks.
 
Vinnie Calvaruso is 8-for-15 on field goals with a long of 42 and 31-of-33 on point-after attempts. He has averaged 55.6 yards on 53 kickoffs. Mason Gessert has punted 34 times for a 33.6 yards per punt average with a long of 46 and nine inside the opponent's 20-yard line.
 
Jake Closser has averaged 21.1 on 10 punt returns including an 80-yard touchdown return. Closser is shy of attempts from being ranked in the top three in Division II in punt return average.  The NCAA minimum is 1.2 returns per game so Closser would need 10.8 attempts to qualify through nine weeks. Closser was the GLVC Special Teams Player of the Week following week four.  
 
With two games left on the schedule, Head Coach Kellen Nesbitt is attempting to be the sixth Bulldog first-year coach to win at least seven games in their first season. Nesbitt is looking to join Don Faurot (7 in 1926), Fred Faurot (7 in 1935), Red Wade (7 in 1951), Ron Taylor (7 in 1975) and Eric Holm (9 in 1990).
 
Up Next:
Truman will entertain Southwest Baptist for Senior Day on November 16. Fifteen seniors are scheduled to walk in a pre-game ceremony starting at 11:30 a.m.
 The Bulldogs will look to exact a measure of revenge against SBU as the Bearcats put a dagger into Truman's playoff and conference championship hopes with a 20-17 win in Bolivar on a soggy Saturday last season.