Bulldogs pick apart Hawks’ defense as QU’s struggles continue to mount

KIRKSVILLE, Mo. — One of NCAA Division II’s worst defenses figured to struggle to contain one of the nation’s leading rushers.

Nolan Hair then reminded the Quincy University football team that Truman State is much more than Cody Schrader right, Cody Schrader left, Cody Schrader up the gut.

Hair, the Bulldogs’ redshirt freshman quarterback, threw four touchdown passes in the first half and picked apart the Hawks the entire games Saturday, finishing with 325 yards passing and five touchdown tosses in a 49-28 victory in Great Lakes Valley Conference play at Stokes Stadium.

“We made too many mistakes early in the game,” QU coach Gary Bass said. “We have to do a better job of being able to make big plays when we need to.”

It is the Hawks’ fourth straight loss and continued the trend of abysmal defensive efforts.

Truman State (7-2, 3-2 GLVC) faced third down just nine times on 62 plays, converting six of those. The Bulldogs were 5 of 6 on red zone conversions and averaged 62 yards on their seven scoring drives. None of those drives took more than nine plays, and Truman State finished with 25 first downs.

It is the fifth time in nine games Quincy has allowed 48 or more points, and it ranks 161st out of 163 NCAA Division II programs in total defense.

Schrader, a sophomore who is the nation’s second-leading rusher, finished with 119 yards on 21 carries with a touchdown, hardly the numbers some expected after the nation’s No. 1 rusher — Indianapolis’ Toriano Clinton — had 234 yards and three touchdowns against the Hawks last week.

With the Bulldogs leading 28-0 at halftime, the Hawks (3-6, 1-4 GLVC) took the opening drive of the second half and drove 57 yards in nearly six minutes, culminating with Tremayne Lee’s 1-yard touchdown run. However, Truman State needed just six plays to go 74 yards and get Dante Ruffin’s 32-yard touchdown reception.

“We dug ourselves too big of a hole to come back,” Bass said.

Hawks quarterback Tionne Harris threw for 253 yards, but he was intercepted three times and sacked four times. AJ Hardin had five catches for 74 yards, and Lee finished with 82 yards on the ground.