Saturday, Oct. 15, 2011

SAN DIEGO, Calif.--The Drake Bulldogs were defeated 31-24 Saturday by San Diego in a Pioneer Football League contest at Torero Stadium. San Diego broke open a 17-17 game in the fourth quarter with two touchdowns in a 1:27 span, and Drake's comeback bid fell short.

The loss snapped Drake's five-game winning streak and dropped the Bulldogs out of a share of first place in the PFL with San Diego and Jacksonville. San Diego improved to 6-1, 4-0 in the PFL, tied with Jacksonville, while Drake fell to 5-2, 3-1.

Drake committed a season-high four turnovers and had a difficult time getting into a rhythm offensively after averaging 431 yards per game through its first three league matchups. The Bulldogs were held to 350 yards on the day.

"Our guys wanted it so bad and this was such a big game, but we weren't able to put that out onto the field the way that you need to against a very good football team," said head coach Chris Creighton. "There were penalties and we turned the ball over, which you can't do. They're a good football team. We knew that coming in. Coming into their place, they wanted it as bad as we did."

The Bulldogs battled back from a 17-10 deficit to tie the game at 17 with 11:14 to play when sophomore running back Jacob Schmudlach (Carthage, Ill.) scored on a 2-yard run to cap a seven-play, 50-yard drive. That possession was set up by a key interception from fifth-year senior cornerback Michael Lahart (Chariton, Iowa) at the Drake 45-yard line on the first play of the fourth quarter.

The Toreros answered, however, with quarterback Mason Mills driving his team 57 yards in five plays for a touchdown on a 3-yard pass to wide receiver Brandon White at the 9:09 mark to give San Diego a 24-17 lead.

After Drake's next drive stalled, the punt by Billy Janssen (Round Lake Beach, Ill.) was returned 85 yards for a touchdown by San Diego's Sam Hoekstra, pushing the Toreros' lead to 31-17 with 7:42 to play.

Facing a 14-point deficit for the first time since the season opener at North Dakota, Drake responded by marching 80 yards in 10 plays, resulting in a 2-yard touchdown run by junior Trey Morse (Elmo, Texas) to pull within a touchdown at 31-24 with 3:48 to play.

The defense then managed to force a San Diego punt, but not until the Toreros had picked up one first down and run the clock down to 34 seconds. Starting at its own 4-yard line, Drake reached the 19 on a pass from Mike Piatkowski (Wheaton, Ill.) to Nick Rosa (Owasso, Okla.), but after an incompletion Piatkowski was intercepted at the Drake 46 to end the Bulldogs' final threat.

"We didn't deserve to win the football game," Creighton said. "We fought, we came back and gave ourselves chances to win, and that's not surprising at all to me. But we're not going to hang our heads. We brought it on ourselves, and we're going to respond. I really do believe that we'll respond to this."

Piatkowski finished the game 21-of-37 for 296 yards and a touchdown, with one interception, and was sacked four times. Rosa led the team with six catches for a career-high 94 yards.

San Diego led 7-3 after one quarter, courtesy of a 2-yard scoring pass from Mills to Nick Scudellari at the 1:02 mark. Drake had scored the game's first points on a 33-yard Janssen field goal at 5:18 of the first quarter. A scoreless second quarter, marred by penalties, left the score 7-3 at the half with Drake being outgained 204 to 101.

The Toreros finished with 396 yards to Drake's 350, including an 81-54 advantage on the ground and a 315-296 disparity through the air. San Diego committed 13 penalties for 184 yards, while Drake was penalized just six times for 70 yards. Drake had 25 first downs to San Diego's 19.

Senior defensive tackle John Sawhill (Jefferson, Iowa) paced the Bulldogs' defense with a season-high eight tackles (5 solo), including a sack and three tackles for loss. Senior defensive end Anthony Gianaras (Mundelein, Ill.) added one sack among his four tackles (2 solo),

"It's a sour taste right now," Creighton added. "We didn't play good enough to win, and we're capable of playing good enough to win, so that's a really tough feeling. As a coach, that's my job to get our team to play like they're capable."

Drake returns home next week to take on Valparaiso in a 1 p.m. kickoff at Drake Stadium.