The Griffon News

The Western men reverted back to old dynamics under the leadership of Michael Burton and Jeremiah White against Truman State University.

Western defeated the Truman Bulldogs 38-13 last Saturday afternoon. The Griffs recovered from last weekend’s loss against Northwest Missouri State by securing the Truman victory early in the game and setting the team’s record at 4-1, and 2-1 in the Mid-America Intercollegiate Association. The Truman Bulldogs fall to 1-4, and 1-2 within the MIAA.

Western not only set a season record, but also enabled head coach Jerry Partridge to take on the title of the coach with the most wins in Western’s history. This honor means that Partridge, with 66 wins, surpassed the late former Western head coach Rob Hicklin. Partridge contributes the honor to the efforts of the team as a whole including players’ performance and a good coaching staff.

“It means a lot,” Partridge said. “There’s a lot of good players and a lot of good coaches that are a part of this.”

The Griffons showed proof of the team coaching ability when they scored the first ten points of the game. Sophomore Dustin Strickler started the game with a 39-yard field goal in the first quarter and freshman Ferrell McGhee made his first career touchdown on a seven-yard pass from returning quarterback Michael Burton.

The Truman Bulldogs drove the ball 59 yards on eight plays, but was only able to pull off a 37-yard field goal to finally get some points on the board at 9:02 in the second quarter.

Senior All-American Jeremiah White made an impressive recovery from last weekend’s career low of 44 yards. White pushed through the Bulldog’s defense picking up 109 rushing yards on 19 carries. He scored two touchdowns for the Griffons, one of which was a 62-yard pass from Burton. White has successfully rushed for 100 or more yards in the last 15 of 17 games.

“That’s all we worked on during practice,” White said. “To get the offense going and try to keep the defense off the field; make big plays.”

In between White’s run on the field, TSU came up with yet another field goal from 31 yards out in the third quarter setting the score at 24-6.

At 3:50 into the fourth quarter TSU connected a 34-yard pass to Ryan Bonner for the Bulldogs first touchdown. Western responded four minutes later with 57-yard drive on eight plays and a 27-yard touchdown pass to junior Joey Harris for a 31-13 ball game. Harris racked up 51 receiving yards on three carries.

White and Harris were not the only players burning up the field. Senior Jamison Burns collected 71 rushing yards on ten carries, and the last touchdown in the game on a five-yard carry.

Senior Jarrett Brooks pulled his weight by picking up 17 rushing yards, and an even more impressive 75 receiving yards on four carries. The big plays through out the game were made possible by returning quarterback senior Michael Burton. Senior Matt Landess was unable to fill the position because of missed practices due to illness. Burton returned to his position last Saturday, and after working out the kinks made some big plays. Burton completed 13 of 20 passes resulting in a total of 214 yards and three touchdowns.

“It felt real good to be back out there,” Burton said.

There is no doubt that the offense was at the top of their game, but the defense is the reason the Griffs held such a mighty lead. Even though Truman was able to march into the Griffon red zone more than once, the defenders were able to hold the Bulldogs to only one touchdown and two field goals.

“We kept them out of the end zone,” Partridge said.

Junior J.R. Graham led the defense with nine tackles, three of which were solo efforts. Seniors Sirraj Muhammad, Ahmad Miller and Jonathan Miller helped the Griffs by collecting six tackles apiece. It appears that five was a very lucky number for seniors Leon Douglas, John Matthew Fisher, Michael Cobbins and junior Seth Hane, who each got five tackles.

Partridge feels the team has had a very rigorous schedule so far, but feels the team executed the win so well that it created a breather for them.

“Our kids kind of just came out and did it real business like,” Partridge said.

The Western men will have to go back to the office and study, as well as practice, for the next meeting they have scheduled on Oct. 7, in Warrensburg, Mo., against Central Missouri State who’s record is 3-2.

Related content: The Quarterback Question; Partridge gets a win and makes history; Video coverage of the win; White scores on a 69-yard pass; Flash slideshow of the win