KIRKSVILLE, Mo. – The McKendree University football team concluded Great Lakes Valley Conference play here Saturday afternoon by suffering a 52-7 setback to 21st-ranked Truman State University at Stokes Stadium.
 
With the loss, McKendree falls to 5-5 overall and concludes league play with a 2-4 record, while Truman earns its eighth consecutive win as they improved to 8-1 overall and 5-0 in the GLVC.
 
The Bearcats will close out the 2022 regular season next Saturday, Nov. 12 as they travel to St. Charles, Mo., for a 1 p.m. non-conference contest against NCAA FCS opponent, Lindenwood University.
 
After being held scoreless for nearly 59-plus minutes, the Bearcats offense would prevent being shutout for the first time since 2012 as they drove 80 yards in 13 plays and capped the drive with a 1-yard touchdown pass from redshirt junior quarterback Turner Pullen (Shelbyville, Ill./Shelbyville) to redshirt junior receiver Jacob Bachman (Eureka, Ill./Eureka). The touchdown pass extended Pullen's streak to 18 straight games with a touchdown pass.
 
The last time the Bearcats offense was held without a point was in 2012 against Missouri S&T. In that game, Missouri S&T collected a 31-0 win.
 
"It was a hard game today. Truman State did a fantastic job on offense, but especially on defense. We are a pretty darn good offense and just couldn't move the ball. Defensively, it took us a little bit to get going, but it took us until the third and fourth quarter to finally get off the field. We just have to keep fighting away and continue to battle through adversity," McKendree head coach Mike Babcock said following the game.
 
In the second half, the Bearcats gained 170 yards of offense, with 80 of those yards coming on the Bearcats' final possession of the game. On the day, McKendree ran 64 plays and gained 224 yards.  
 
Truman came into the game as one of the top defensive units in the league as they entered the game allowing just 307 yards and 18 points per game. Meanwhile, McKendree came into the game averaging over 39 points and 481 yards per game.
 
"Coach Nesbitt is known for having a tough, physical defense and he does a great job with game planning and I thought they did a fantastic job of corralling us and not letting us use our playmakers the way we want to do," added Babcock. "I thought we had some opportunities, but just couldn't do it."
 
For the game, Pullen, who is the Division II leader in completions per game, passing yards and total offense, finished Saturday's game 29-for-45 passing for 192 yards and had one touchdown pass and two interceptions. In addition, he carried the ball six time for a minus-6 yards rushing to finish with a season low 186 yards of total offense. Pullen is now just 42 yards shy of Isaac Fisher's school career passing yardage mark as Fisher passed for 8,508 yards from 2012-15 and Pullen has currently passed for 8,466 career yards heading into next week's game with Lindenwood.
 
Pullen's 192 yards passing is his lowest total this season and the lowest since throwing for 189 yards last season against UIndy.
 
Pullen's big target on Saturday was sophomore receiver Yogi Flager, Jr. (Belleville, Ill./Butler University) as he was targeted 16 times and caught 11 passes for 135 yards. With those 135 yards, Flager, Jr. set a new single season record for receiving yards as he has now recorded 1,030 yards, which bettered the old mark of 939 set by Matt Cole in 2019.
 
In addition to Flager, Jr., Bachman was targeted 14 times and caught 10 passes for 25 yards and those 10 receptions helped Bachman better his old school record for single season receptions as he has now caught 87 passes in 10 games this season. Bachman set the old record last season when he caught 80 passes.
 
While passing for 192 yards, the Bearcats rushing attack was held to a season-low 32 yards on 19 carries as sophomore running back Narkel Leflore (Chatham, Ill./Glenwood) led the way with 34 yards. He also caught six passes for 14 yards and returned four kickoffs for 101 yards as he tallied 150 all-purpose yards.
 
In Saturday's game, Truman State scored on its first seven possessions of the game and led 45-0 with a little under two minutes left in the first half. Truman scored 28 points in the first quarter and tallied 17 points in the second quarter.
 
It marked the first time since Oct. 1, 2016 in a game against Southwest Baptist that the Bearcats had been held without a point in the first half. In 2017, the Bearcats offense didn't score in the first half, but they recorded a safety in the season opener at Angelo State.
 
The Bearcats offense was held to just 54 yards of offense in the first half with 36 of those yards coming on its last drive of the half that resulted in junior kicker Ryan Kastl (Washington, Ill./Washington Community) missing a 54-yard field goal in a driving wind of nearly 20 miles per hour. His attempt was wide left to end the half and keep the Bearcats of the scoreboard for the first time in a span of 51 games.
 
On Truman's opening possession of the third quarter, sophomore defensive back Brandon Wilson, Jr. (Chicago, Ill./St. Laurence) picked off Nolan Hair deep in McK's territory to stop another scoring drive by the Bulldogs.
 
The Bearcats mounted a drive following that interception as they drove 66 yards in 13 plays and reached the Truman 27-yard line when redshirt junior quarterback Turner Pullen (Shelbyville, Ill./Shelbyville) was stopped a yard shy of a first down on a fourth-and-2 play. The 66 yards pushed the Bearcats offense over 100 yards on the day.
 
Turman State finished the game with 488 yards of offense on just 60 plays as they rushed for 435 yards and passed just nine times in the game and completed six of those passes for 53 yards.
 
Shamar Griffith led the Bulldogs with 165 yards rushing and scored three times, while Colin Sutton added 84 yards rushing on six carries and scored on a 36-yard touchdown early in the second quarter to give TSU a 31-0 lead.
 
Hair was 5-for-8 passing 44 yards and had a touchdown and an interception in the win. Matt Hall caught three passes for 35 yards in the win.