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Opponent: Lake Erie College
Time: Saturday, September 25; 5:00 PM CST
Location: Jack Britt Memorial | Painesville, OH
 
Bolivar, Mo. - The Bearcats hit the road again for their final non-conference matchup of the season. Lake Erie College will be the hosts, starting the year 3-0. 

Scouting The Bearcats
Robert Clardy will be entering his seventh season (2021-22) as the Head Football Coach and his 14th season overall on the Bearcats Football coaching staff. In 2016, Coach Clardy earned GLVC Coach of the Year honors after leading the Bearcats to their first ever conference title and NCAA National Playoff appearance after finishing the season 10-2 (7-1 GLVC). Clardy's Bearcats were ranked as high as 17th in the NCAA Division II AFCA poll, finishing 22nd in the final NCAA Division II AFCA poll, while earning their first ever regional and national rankings. Due to the outbreak of COVID-19, the 2020-21 football season took place in the spring of 2021. The spring season was a shortened, three game, conference opponents only, season. Truman State visited Bolivar, taking the first game after a very tight first half. SBU nearly defeated Missouri S&T on the road the next week, but fell short late in the game. The final game finished with a high scoring victory over William Jewell.

The fall 2021 season began a week earlier than expected for the Bearcats, scheduling a home contest last minute against Texas Permian Basin. The Falcons' strong defense held off the potent Bearcat offense, taking the week one matchup 24-16. In that contest, Coleton Smith recorded the third-most tackles in a single game in SBU history, bringing 20 Falcons to the ground. His performance went on to earn him GLVC Defensive Player of the Week. Week two saw the Bearcats take on the defending national champions and #1 ranked West Florida on their turf. The Argonauts took the game 63-14. The Oilers of Findlay won a shootout in week three, 62-41. The spring's GLVC Offensive Player of the Year, Cooper Callis, returns to lead the SBU offense. After leading the conference in nearly every passing category in the spring, Callis has completed 82 passes for 969 yards and 8 touchdowns. He leads the GLVC in all passing categories. Curtis Cuillard, Preston Carson, Jordan Kent, and Cassian Foreman have all been big targets. Kent leads the conference in receptions per game with Carson right behind him. Carson also ranks 3rd in receiving yards per game. Eric Knight, Bryce Cabrera, and Abel Carter will all take reps at running back. SBU's group of linebackers is strong, led by upperclassmen in Aaron Harris, Taylor Jones-Morgan, and Coleton Smith. Continuing his impressive performance from week one, Coleton Smith leads the team with 46 total tackles, 13 more than any other in the GLVC. Brenden Smith has the second most takles on the team and the 5th most in the conference.

Scouting The Storm
The Lake Erie Storm are led by head coach Reilly Murphy who is in just his second full season with the team. Murphy was named head coach in December of 2018, where he would go on to lead the Storm to a 6-11 record up to this point. Off to a hot start, Lake Erie is 3-0 to begin the fall. The season began with a 31-26 win at Clario, followed by another road victory at Franklin Pierce 31-20, and most recently a 17-10 win at GLVC opponent McKendree. Lake Erie took a 17-0 lead with 6:09 left in the half but would fail to score for the remainder of the game. Saturday's matchup marks Lake Erie's first home contest of 2021. Gerald Gardner leads the team at the quarterback spot, completing 57 of 90 passes for 761 yards and 5 touchdowns this year. He has also thrown 3 interceptions. Most of his passes have been to Peyton Brown, catching 16 for 243 yards and a score. Nate Dantley has also hauled in 13 passes for 177 yards and 2 touchdowns. Devin Brown is the Storm's primary runner, attempting 57 rushes for 223 yards and 4 touchdowns. On defense, Karry Debose leads the team with 21 tackles. Five members of the defense have 15+ tackles and nine have 10+ on the season. Michael Cox has been in the backfield quite a bit, recording 5 sacks for 22 yards lost. The defense has caused 5 turnovers, 4 of those being interceptions and 1 being a fumble.

Saturday will mark the first meeting between the teams.