Oct. 2, 2004
Bulldogs Lose A Heartbreaker To Missouri Southern By A 30-20 Margin
Truman was just inches away from earning its first win of the season and defeating its former head coach, but instead the Bulldogs were forced to deal with their toughest loss of its 2004 campaign. Truman (0-6, 0-4 MIAA) lost its Family Weekend game on Saturday to Missouri Southern (4-2, 3-1 MIAA) by a 30-20 margin.
The Bulldogs scored 14 unanswered points early in the fourth quarter to draw within three points of Missouri Southern at 23-20, and a Lion turnover gave Truman the ball on the Missouri Southern 24-yard line with less than four minutes remaining. Truman appeared to score the go-ahead score on the third play of the drive when Jeff Amundson caught an 11-yard touchdown pass, only to see the play not count because of an ineligible player downfield penalty.
The Bulldogs kept driving down to the one-yard line where they had a third-and-goal play. Truman's Jerard Leverson took the handoff and tried to stretch the ball across the goal line, but Missouri Southern's Adrian Williams popped the ball loose and it went right to the Lions' Robert Spinks who took the ball 100 yards for a fumble recovery touchdown. That play made a winner out of the Lions' head coach John Ware, who is in his first season at Missouri Southern after coaching at Truman the past nine years.
The game featured a record breaking day for Truman's air attack which set a new team record of 41 completions. Quarterback Jack Czeschin was 41-of-60 in the game with a career-high 374 yards. He threw for one touchdown and had two interceptions in the game. The 41 completions is a new individual record as well for a Bulldog. Czeschin also entered Truman's top 10 career passing list during the game as he is now 10th all-time at the school with 3,278 career passing yards.
Most of his passes on Saturday went in the direction of Jeff Amundson, who also broke a Truman single-game record with 18 catches. He ended the contest with 175 receptions yards and had 270 all-purpose yards after adding 27 on punt returns and 68 on kickoff returns.
Truman gained 398 yards of total offense, compared to just 217 yards for the Lions. The big difference in the game though came in the red zone. Missouri Southern went in the red zone four times and scored three touchdowns out of it, with a turnover on downs being the only time it was unsuccessful. Truman was in the red zone six times in the game, but scored just two touchdowns and two field goals. The team also made two costly turnovers as it approached the Lions' endzone.
Both teams started out slow offensively with the first two drives from both teams stalling and ending with punts. Missouri Southern took advantage of a long punt return which gave the team good field position and scored the first touchdown of the game late in the first quarter on a 13-yard reception by Demarcus Mathes from Nathan Emert.
Truman got on the board next on a Mark Kamphoefner field goal, but Missouri Southern scored nine more points in the second quarter to lead 16-3 at half. The big play in the quarter was a Jordan Chapman interception for the Lions on their two-yard line.
The Bulldogs had one of their better drives of the year to open the second-half when they used 15 plays and nearly seven minutes of playing time to drive down inside Missouri Southern's 10-yard line. However, all they came away with was another Kamphoefner field goal.
Missouri Southern scored on its first drive of the second-half when Wentric Williams rushed the ball in from three yards out with just over six minutes remaining in the third. Truman's defense didn't allow another touchdown after that as the Bulldogs forced two turnovers, a turnover on downs and a punt. The strong Bulldog "D" late in the game sparked the team and nearly led the team's comeback that ended up falling just short.
Missouri Southern had a balanced offensive attack as Wentric Williams rushed for 103 yards and Nathan Emert passed for 217. Emert had two touchdown passes, including one to his favorite receiver, Mathes, who ended the game with 103 yards receiving.
The Bulldogs rushed the ball just 21 times in the game, led by Michael Patnode with 43 yards. Leverson had the lone rushing touchdown for Truman and A.J. Weber caught the Bulldog touchdown pass. Truman's defense was led by Ben Wilson who had ten tackles, including two sacks. Ted Guisinger also recorded 10 stops. Steven Holman forced a fumble which was recovered by Mike Mowen and Marcus Yokeley picked off his third interception in the last two weeks.
Missouri Southern's defense was led by Blake Martin who had 13 tackles. Chapman and Jake Long each had an interception in the game.
Truman will go on the road next week to St. Joseph, Mo., where they will take on Missouri Western in a 2 p.m. game. Missouri Southern is at home against nationally-ranked Northwest Missouri.