Oct. 17, 2009 – Vanness Emokpae had nearly 200 yards of offense but it wasn’t enough as the Truman Bulldogs managed just nine points on four drives that ended inside the
Truman’s defense set the tone of the game with a quick three and out and the offense, behind first time starter, Andy Mundwiller marched down the field. Mundwiller found Anthony Brown for a 26-yard pass play on third down.
A bad snap later in the drive pushed the Bulldogs back to the Lion’s 28-yardline and Mickey Masucci missed just right from 44-yards away.
Terrence Byrd got the first of four Truman turnovers of the day later in the quarter and set up the ‘Dogs in excellent field position. However, a holding penalty on Truman’s offensive line moved the ball back to the Southern 22 and Masucci missed left from 39-yards out.
Truman was aided by two big special team mistakes by the Lions in the second quarter.
After a 74-yard punt by Andrew Gassen that pinned Truman back to their own 12, the Lion defense held the Bulldogs for a punt.
On the ensuing punt, Dennis Walls poked the ball loose from Ne’Ronte Threat and Richie Schumacher jumped on it at the Bulldog 40.
Truman couldn’t take advantage as they netted just two yards on the next possession but Threat muffed the next punt return and Emokpae was there for the recovery.
Setting up shop at the Lion 26, Truman ran the ball six straight times with Emokpae going in for the lead from three yards out.
Threat redeemed himself for the Lions as he caught a key 3rd and 14 pass from Roland Thompson that moved the ball down to the Bulldog 15 on the next Southern possession. Truman held the Lions out of the endzone as Gassen connected from 30-yards out to cut the Bulldog lead to 7-3.
Emokpae took the first play on the Bulldogs next drive 52-yards inside the Missouri Southern 20 but a critical intentional grounding call and a sack on third and goal from the nine resulted in Masucci making a 30-yard field goal for a 10-3 Bulldog lead at the half.
Southern tied the score on their first drive in the second half as Thompson found Daniel Thompson for a 33 yard touchdown pass with 6:52 left in the third quarter.
Truman wasted little time in moving back down the field as Donald Harvey scampered for 42 yards down to the Lion nine yard line. However two small rushes and an incomplete pass brought Masucci on to connect from 23-yards away as the Bulldogs retook the lead, 13-10.
The Lions tied the game again when Gassen hit from 47-yards with :57 seconds left in the quarter.
Emokpae again reeled off a big run to start the fourth quarter as the junior busted loose for 46 yards to the Southern 19.
A pass interference penalty moved the ball to the four but the Bulldogs were called for a substitution infraction on the next play. Two more incompletes and Masucci was beckoned again to hit from 26-yards out to put Truman ahead 16-13.
Southern answered right back as Thompson hooked up with Landon Zerkel for a 30-yard touchdown pass with 11:31 showing to give Southern their first lead of the day at 20-16.
Emokpae again was big as he caught a 33-yard pass from Mundwiller on the first play of the next drive. Seth Flint then caught a 20-yard pass to move the ball down to the Lion eight yard line.
After a one yard rush by Anton Bernard, the wheels fell off for the Bulldogs. Truman got flagged for an offensive pass interference call, a hold and a false start and trotted out Masucci for a 47-yard field goal attempt.
Masucci missed and the Lions took over with 7:31 on the clock.
The defense held but the Bulldogs were pinned back to their own 12 on a punt by Gassen.
Truman could not muster anything on the drive and had to punt the ball back to the Lions with 2:38 to play.
On a third and two, Todrick Hunt gained just enough to enable the Lions to kill the clock the rest of the way and get the 20-16 victory over the ‘Dogs.
Emokpae had 150 yards rushing on 16 attempts and 33 yards receiving. Mudwiller was 12-of-26 for 122 yards and Truman as a whole did not turn the ball over to the Lions. The Bulldogs won the time of possession and had 350 yards of total offense but the empty possessions inside the Lion 10 spelled doom.
Southern had 302 yards of offense with Thompson completing 13 of 23 passes for 182 yards and two touchdowns.
The Bulldogs will head home to face
Game Notes: Michael Elliott and Terrance Byrd each had an interception with Richie Schumacher had a force and fumble recovery…Anthony Freeman had 1.5 sacks with Eric Sternberg (.5) and Patrick Blackwell were credited with the other two…Demetrius Lavant and Elliott led the defense with 11 total tackles…the defense held the MIAA’s second best rushing offense (168.2 ypg) to just 120 yards on the day on 43 carries (2.8 ypp)…Anthony Brown led Truman with three catches for 38 yards.