LEBANON, Ill. – The McKendree University football team will play its final regular season home game of the 2021 season this Saturday, Nov. 6 as the Bearcats play host to Truman State University. Kickoff for the Great Lakes Valley Conference match-up is set for 1 p.m. The Bearcat Sports Network will provide live video of the game beginning with Colin Suhre's pregame show at 12:50 p.m. at www.glvcsn.com/mckendree.
 
Saturday also marks Senior Day for the Bearcats' program as 19 players and a student assistant will be honored in a pregame ceremony prior to their final appearance on the home turf at Leemon Field. The members of this year's senior class are punter Andrew Anckle (Riverview, Fla./SIU-Carbondale), student assistant Sean Brewer (Springfield, Ill./Rochester), offensive lineman Larry Davis III (Country Clubs Hills, Ill./Rich Central), quarterback Brenden Dickmann (Edwardsville, Ill./Edwardsville), running back Jace Franklin IV (Springfield, Mo./Minnesota State), defensive back Kenneth Garrett, Jr. (Memphis, Tenn./Whitehaven), offensive lineman Austin Huls (St. Charles, Mo./Pattonville), defensive lineman Jamari Johnson (Chicago, Ill./Goode STEM Academy), tight end Jace Kennedy (Dwight, Ill./Dwight), linebacker Iben King (Chicago, Ill./Brother Rice), defensive back Devon Myles (Chicago, Ill./Westinghouse College Prep), quarterback Eli Oltean (St. Joseph, Ill./St. Joseph-Ogden), defensive back Tony Pisoni (Arnold, Mo./Fox), linebacker Bennett Richter (Breese, Ill./Breese Central), offensive lineman Dea'Veon Harden-Smith (Zion, Ill./Zion Benton Township), center Jake Stevenson (Ludlow, Ill./Paxton-Buckley-Ludlow), receiver Steven Towns, Jr. (Normal, Ill./Normal Community), linebacker Michael Tucker (Chicago, Ill./North Lawndale Prep), receiver Jonathan Turner, Jr. (Chicago, Ill./Hubbard) and defensive lineman Isaiah Ward (Peoria, Ill./Peoria Notre Dame).
 
McKendree enters Saturday's game with a 4-5 overall and is tied for second in the GLVC standings with a 3-2 league record with two weeks left in the regular season. The Bearcats began a new win streak last Saturday as they rallied from a 12-point fourth quarter deficit to post a 45-42 come-from-behind win at Southwest Baptist. The win in the annual battle of the Bearcats, McKendree has now won four of its last six games with the only losses coming at home on Oct. 23 to Missouri S&T (37-31) and at University of Indianapolis (57-28) on Oct. 9.
 
In the win against Southwest Baptist, the Bearcats offense finished with 479 yards as they passed for 323 yards and gained 156 yards rushing on 42 carries. Leading the way offensively for McKendree was redshirt sophomore quarterback Turner Pullen (Shelbyville, Ill./Shelbyville) as he was 24-for-42 passing for 323 yards with four touchdowns and no interceptions. In addition, he added 31 yards rushing with one touchdown and tallied 354 yards of total offense. With is five touchdowns, Pullen has now been responsible for 63 touchdowns in his career, which is second-most in school history and 21st among active Division II players.
 
The Bearcats have now gained 450 yards of offense in five consecutive games and has also scored 28 points in five straight games, including three games of scoring 45 or more points. Additionally, Pullen has passed for 300 or more yards in four of his last five games, including a school record 408 passing yards against Missouri S&T.
 
On the season, Pullen is 144-for-268 passing for 1,964 yards and he has tossed 19 touchdowns and thrown eight interceptions and has amassed 2,261 yards of total offense. Pullen's 19 touchdowns are tied for fourth on the school's single chart, while his 2,261 offensive yards is fifth on the school's single season chart. He is now just 36 passing yards shy of passing for 2,000 yards in a season for the second time in his career as he threw for 2,407 yards in 2019.
 
Against SBU, Pullen completed passes to 10 different receivers as redshirt sophomore Jacob Bachman (Eureka, Ill./Eureka) caught 10 of those passes for 123 yards and pushed his season reception total to 60 and is now just four pass receptions shy of Dwayne Gatti's single season school record of 64 receptions in 2013. In addition, Bachman has gained 689 yards receiving, which is third on the school's single season chart and is 250 yards shy of Matt Cole's single season record of 939 receiving yards.
 
Redshirt freshman tight end Jordan Sprycha (Oak Lawn, Ill./Oak Lawn) and redshirt sophomore Tyler Siever (Carlyle, Ill./Carlyle) each caught two touchdowns against SBU, while the fifth score came on a 1-yard plunge by Pullen to push his season total to a team-best nine rushing touchdowns.
 
Redshirt freshman kicker Kaleb Barry (Kirkwood, Mo./Kirkwood), who was named this week's GLVC Special Teams Player of the Week, was a perfect 3-for-3 on field goals and 4-for-4 on extra points, while second year freshman running back Narkel Leflore (Chatham, Ill./Chatman) returned four kickoffs for 143 yards and tallied a career-high 199 all-purpose yards.
 
Defensively, the Bearcats recorded two sacks, six tackles for loss, forced a fumble and recovered a fumble and tallied three quarterback hurries. Leading the way on defense was Tucker, Garrett, Jr., and sophomore defensive lineman Sidney Houston (Cahokia, Ill./East St. Louis). Tucker, Garrett, Jr., and Houston each had seven tackles in the game, while Tucker had 1.5 tackles for loss and a quarterback hurry.
 
On the season, Tucker leads the Bearcats in tackles with 69 and tackles for loss with 9.5 and has had four sacks, while Houston is second in tackles with 49 and has had 8.5 tackles for loss and 6.5 sacks. Tucker and Garrett, Jr., have each recovered two fumbles on the year, while Garrett, Jr., and Pisoni have picked off two passes each.
 
Meanwhile, Truman State comes into Saturday's game with McKendree sporting a 7-2 overall record and a 3-2 mark in the GLVC following its 49-28 win last Saturday at home over Quincy (Ill.) University. The win was the second straight for the Bulldogs and third in its last four games with the lone loss being a 27-21 setback at Southwest Baptist on Oct. 16.
 
Following Saturday's game, the Bearcats will close out the 2021 regular season with a 1 p.m. game in St. Charles, Mo., against Lindenwood University, who is the lone remaining undefeated team in the league heading into its road game Saturday at Missouri S&T.
 
ABOUT TRUMAN STATE
Truman State, who was tabbed to finish third in the preseason poll and was the GLVC runner-up a season ago, comes into the game as one the top rushing teams in Division II as the Bulldogs are second in the league and 24th in rushing offense as they average 202 yards per game and are third in the league in scoring as they average 33.8 points per game and are third in Division II in fourth down conversions as they convert nearly 85 percent (11-for-13) of their fourth down attempts. In addition, Truman has won 24 straight games when running for over 200 yards in a game dating to the 2010 season.
 
Leading the way for Truman's offense is sophomore running back Cody Schrader as he third in Division II and second in the GLVC in rushing as he averages 158.7 yards per game and has gained 1,428 yards and is within 72 yards of becoming the third Bulldog to rush for 1,500 yards in a season. Schrader has gained 100 or more yards rushing in seven consecutive games and his 32 career touchdowns are eighth most in school history.
 
Along with Schrader, redshirt freshman quarterback Nolan Hair, who threw five touchdown passes in the Bulldogs 49-28 win against Quincy, is 10-3 as Truman's starting quarterback and he has thrown for 2,558 yards with 26 touchdowns in those 13 games and has completed 62 percent of his passes. This season, Hair has thrown for 1,740 yards with 17 touchdowns and has added 137 yards and one touchdown rushing. The five touchdown pass game against Quincy is the second most in a game in the program's history.
 
Truman has had 13 different receivers catch passes from Hair this season as leading the way is senior Dante Ruffin with 35 receptions for 396 yards and five touchdowns. In addition to Ruffin, sophomore tight end Matt Hall has caught 27 passes for 351 yards and three touchdowns.
 
On defense, the Bulldogs ranks near the top of the league in rushing defense as they are allowing just 80.4 rushing yards per game and are third in the league and 29th nationally with 2.89 sacks per game. The Bulldogs are also second in the league in total defense as they are allowing 336.7 yards per game and league-best 21.0 points per game. Truman is also tops in the league in red zone defense as their opponents have made 27 trips inside the red zone and has scored on just 20 of those trips (71.4 percent).
 
Leading the way for Truman's defense are sophomore linebacker Isaiah Estes and freshman free safety Peyton Carr as they have recorded 67 and 64 stops respectively on the year. Estes also has had 4.5 tackles for loss and Carr has had six tackles for a loss and two interceptions. Truman has picked off 11 passes this year led by sophomore cornerback Ben Thomas, who was named this week's GLVC Defensive Player of the Week, who has had three interceptions and 11 pass break-ups.
 
The Bulldogs have had 68 tackles for loss and 28 sacks on the season with Ulysses Ross leading the way with 5.5 sacks and 12 tackles for loss, while freshman defensive end Jack Marth has had 3.5 sacks and eight tackles for loss.
 
On special teams, the Bulldogs are second in the league in kickoff returns as they average 26.8 yards per return, with senior return specialist Jaylen Jefferson averaging 34.9 yards per return, which is third-best in Division II and has scored two touchdowns. Senior punter Taylor Cornish is the league leader in punting as he averages 39.4 yards per punt and he has had three touchbacks, 11 fair catches and 11 inside the 20-yard line. The kicking duties are handled by junior Josh Scheiderer, who is 5-for-11 on field goals with a long of 46 yards on the year and he has converted 40 of 41 extra point attempts.
 
Truman State holds 6-2 advantage in the all-time series with McKendree that dates back to 2011. The Bulldogs have won three straight meetings in the series, including picking up a 45-17 win in the most recent meeting in 2019 in Kirksville, Mo. McKendree is 1-3 against the Bulldogs at Leemon Field.