Box Score

 

Nov. 7, 2009 – The Truman Football team defeated Pittsburg State 28-21 in the season finale on Saturday at Stokes Stadium.  It was the first Bulldog victory over the Gorillas since 1989.  Truman led wire to wire in their first conference win of the season.

 

Both teams started the game failing on fourth down conversions before Truman took the lead when seniors Phil Kenney and Albert Coker hooked up for a 15-yard, wildcat formation touchdown pass.

 

Harnish Ayora scored from one yard out with 1:52 left in the first and Coker caught his second TD pass from Phillip Davis to put Truman up 21-0.  On that drive, the Bulldogs went three for three on third down, with conversions of one, 10 and 13 yards.

 

Cardell Clemons scored from one yard out with 5:52 left in the half and again from eight yards away with 5:57 left in the third.

 

Ja’Cobe Britt was key in keeping Pitt out of the endzone just before half.  Britt sacked quarterback John McCoy on consecutive plays as the Gorillas were driving inside Truman territory.

 

The defense came up big again to start the second half as Harold Lloyd jumped on a Terrance Isaac fumble at the Truman five yard line to end another scoring threat.

 

Lloyd recovered his second fumble of the day on the Pittsburg 35 yard line with 10:31 left in the game and the ‘Dogs up 21-14. 

 

On the first play, Truman used a little trickery as Davis passed the ball back to Michael Mayzask and then caught the return pass from Mayszak for a 25-yard gain down to the Gorilla 10 yard line.

 

Two plays later, Davis found Vanness Emokpae on a slant route in the endzone for an insurance score.

 

Pitt marched down the field in six plays and 68 yards to cut the lead back to a touchdown and Truman took over with 7:34 left to play at their own 36-yard line.

 

Davis rushed for 16 and a first down, then found Emokpae for 14 yards to move the chains again.  Anton Bernard carried three straight times to gain another first down.

 

After the Gorillas exhausted their timeouts, Truman faced a third and two from the Pitt 20.  Ayora the ball off left tackle and gained six yards, a first down and gave the Bulldogs their first victory conference victory of the season and break a nine-game MIAA loosing streak.

 

Truman’s final drive of the game consumed 7:34 off the clock and went for 13 plays, both season longs.

 

Davis was 16-of-19 for 243 yards passing and two touchdowns.  He also ran the ball nine times for 42 yards including a long of 16.

 

Emokpae went over 1000 career receiving yards with 110 on six catches.  The senior ended the day with 170 all-purpose yards.

 

Coker added five catches for 78 yards to finish with 1,096 career receiving yards.

 

Demetrius Lavant also ended his Truman career with a game-high seven tackles with one sack and his fourth career interception.  Britt tied Lavant for game high honors in tackles with seven and three going for loss.

 

Truman finishes the season with a 2-9 overall record and 1-8 in the MIAA.  Pittsburg State suffers their first sub .500 season since the mid 70s by finishing 5-6 overall and 3-6 in the conference.

 

Game Notes: Truman grabbed their first lead over Pittsburg State since the first quarter of the 2005 game, the Bulldogs had led just two other times in the past 15 games played against the Gorillas…senior linebacker Eric Sternberg finished 1.5 sacks short of the Bulldog single-season record, Sternberg entered the game with 10.5 and left the game with an injury during the second quarter…The 429 yards of total offense was a season high for the Bulldogs…Truman was 9-of-14 on third down conversions and 4-of-5 in redzone chances…Senior place kicker Mickey Masucci converted on four extra points to finish his Bulldog career with 228 points and made his last 55 straight.