Sept. 25, 2004
Truman Football Takes Lead Into Fourth Quarter, Drops Game To Emporia State 38-21.
One of Truman's biggest problems heading into the Emporia State game was its turnover margin. The Bulldogs solved that on Saturday but it still wasn't enough to earn a victory over the Hornets. Emporia State outscored Truman by a 24-0 margin in the final quarter for a come-from-behind 38-21 victory.
Emporia State improved to 3-2 on the season and 2-1 in the MIAA. The Bulldogs dropped to 0-5 overall and 0-3 in conference play.
Truman and Emporia State went into half tied at 14. The Bulldogs forced four turnovers in the half and the Hornets missed two short field goal attempts.
The first turnover led to Truman cracking the scoreboard for the first time. Down 7-0 early in the first quarter, the Bulldogs punted and forced a fumble on the return, giving them the ball at the Emporia 17-yard line. Four plays later, Jake Czeschin found Ryan Bonner on a seven-yard touchdown reception.
Truman's other touchdown in the first-half came off another Hornet fumble in the second quarter. On the first play after the Bulldogs' recovered, Michael Patnode broke off a 55-yard run, the longest rush of the season for Truman, for his first collegiate score.
Both of Emporia's touchdowns in the half came on short drives. The Hornets had to go just 42 yards for its first score and 51 yards on the second one. Tad Hatfield had touchdown passes on both with one going to Matt Martin and one to JJ Richard.
Truman grabbed the lead for the first time in 2004 when James Walton caught a 12-yard touchdown reception with 10:42 left in the third quarter. The score stayed at 21-14 in Truman's favor for the rest of the quarter. However, the Bulldogs' defense was on the field for the majority of the game up to that point, which caught up with them in the final quarter.
Emporia State tied the game with 11:50 remaining on a 12-yard run by Jake Richter and then took the lead less than three minutes later on another Richard touchdown reception. The Hornets would add a field goal and another touchdown late. All four fourth quarter scoring drives by Emporia State were five plays or less.
Truman had a +5 turnover margin in the game, as the Bulldogs forced three fumbles and four interceptions. That helped them keep the game close until the very end despite Emporia State having nearly 200 yards more of total offense.
Marcus Yokeley led the Bulldogs' defense with eight tackles, two for losses, one fumble recovery and two interceptions. Josh Mayson also recovered two turnovers, one fumble and one interception, Mike Mowen had a fumble recovery and Jesse Cooper had the other interception. Ben Wilson led the team with 12 tackles and he forced two of the fumbles.
Offensively, Patnode became the first 100-yard rusher for the Bulldogs as he collected 120 yards on 20 carries. James Walton led the receivers with four catches for 56 yards. Jake Czeschin returned from his injury and threw for 197 yards, two touchdowns and no interceptions.
Emporia State's quarterback Tad Hatfield threw for a career-high 330
yards and three touchdowns. Richard had 116 yards on 10 catches to go along
with his pair of touchdowns. Jake Richter fell two yards shy of hitting
the century mark rushing.