Truman State notched its second lopsided win of the season Saturday, beating Kansas State 72-19 in Manhattan, Kan. The result pushes the Bulls to 2-0 in league play and first place. Wing Landon Anderson scored three tries in the win. He scored four in Truman’s 62-12 defeat of Kansas last week.

Leading the Bulls from the front this season is a pair of guys who have earned their chops playing club 7s in the summer. One is David McDonough, who helped the Kansas City Blues to 7s Nationals, and the other is flyhalf and captain Joe Krispin.

“He played summer 7s with the Ramblers all summer, and his game has really improved as a result of that,” said Truman coach Bill Sexton of Krispin. “I’ve tried to convince people that playing 7s is a good thing to do, but they don’t always buy into it, but it really helped him.”

Truman State’s been a young team the last couple of seasons, but the maturity of guys like Krispin and McDonough, along with some new talent, has the Bulls playing well.

“We graduated a half dozen starters last year and we sort of reloaded pretty well with some new guys,” said Sexton.

“I’ve got a couple of guys that started for us the last two games, it was their first and second games ever, but they just had caught on with the preseason stuff and were doing pretty well. We’ve managed to shuffle some people around and fill in with some new guys and get some young blood and get them moving.”

Up next for Truman is a daunting meeting with varsity Lindenwood. When the Bulls and Lions met last fall, Lindenwood won 90-8.

“They look at Lindenwood, and they’re a pretty stacked side,” said Sexton of his players. “They’ve just got a great opportunity, and in doing so they can recruit and give scholarships. A lot of people would envy their position, but at the same time they’ve got a bunch of great young players.”