ROLLA, Mo. – Missouri S&T was plagued by mistakes Thursday night and as a result, dropped a 46-27 decision to Truman State in a Great Lakes Valley Conference football contest at Allgood-Bailey Stadium.

The Miners were guilty of five turnovers that led to 23 points, 13 of which came in a critical fourth quarter stretch where the Bulldogs scored 19 points in a span of 2:03 to break open a close contest.

With the win, Truman (3-0) advances to the GLVC championship game next Saturday while the Miners' condensed spring schedule came to an end with a 2-1 record.

S&T got the first score of Thursday's game at the conclusion of a 13-play, 83-yard drive that culminated with a 13-yard scoring pass from Brennan Simms (Punta Gorda, FL/Charlotte) to Ryan Langford (Phoenix, AZ/O'Connor).  The Bulldogs answered right back with a 10-play scoring drive of their own that covered parts of the first and second quarters, ending on Cody Schrader's four-yard touchdown run to tie the contest at seven.

The Bulldogs took the lead on Josh Scheiderer's 47-yard field goal with just under six minutes to play in a rapidly-played first half, then the Miners committed two turnovers in the final two minutes of the half that led to 10 Truman points.

The first came when Simms fumbled on a sack by Robert Greco and Isaiah Estes picked up the loose ball and ran 49 yards for a touchdown to extend the Bulldog lead.  Then just over a minute later, Simms' downfield pass was intercepted by Ben Thomas and Truman was able to advance the ball to the S&T 30-yard line to allow Scheiderer to kick another 47-yard field goal before the half ended.

S&T was able to trim the Truman lead to 20-14 midway through the third quarter when Payton McAlister (Decatur, TX/Decatur) crashed over from the one, then the Miner defense forced a turnover when Hair escaped from the Miner pass rush but had the ball knocked away by Stefan Camplin (Raytown, MO/Raytown); Ben Straatmann (Washington, MO/Washington) recovered the fumble on the four-yard line.

However, the Miners had to punt and after the Bulldogs picked up a couple of first downs, Schrader raced 50 yards for a touchdown to extend the Bulldog lead and begin the downward spiral for the Miners early in the fourth quarter.

First, Alec Delvecchi returned an S&T fumble to the six-yard line, leading to a touchdown pass from Hair to Jake Ellis.  That was followed by an interception by Ryan Olivas that was brought back to the Miners' 19-yard line and led to Schrader's third scoring run of the night to complete the scoring flurry.

The Miners got a one-yard touchdown run by Aaron Moya (Canutillo, TX/Canutillo) and a five-yard scoring run by McAlister later in the fourth quarter in a game where the Miners outgained the Bulldogs 416-307.

Moya had his third straight 100-yard performance of the spring season with 104 yards on 18 carries, while McAlister had 64 yards and the two scores as S&T finished with 184 yards as a team.  Simms completed 14-of-20 passes for 117 yards in the first half, while freshman Max Conard (Blue Springs, MO/Blue Springs South) played the second half and went 12-of-23 for 115 yards.  Tate Nickleberry (Columbia, MO/Rock Bridge) finished with six catches to lead the Miners in that department.

Straatmann and Justin Onwugbufor (Wichita, KS/Northwest) finished with 11 tackles apiece, with Straatmann recording both of the Miner sacks in the game.

Schrader finished with 123 yards on the ground for the Bulldogs.