DES MOINES, Iowa – The Drake University football team was able to hold off PFL foe Davidson in a 17-12 victory Saturday afternoon at Drake Stadium.
"Our defense once again came out and played great," said head coach
Rick Fox. "Offensively you know we did some nice things, we've got to take care of the ball better. But we gritted it out and got the win."
In a game that showed only 471 yards of combined offense, the Drake defense held Davidson to only 3.06 yards per play and forced three turnovers. Recording his third interception of the season, sophomore
Will Warner gave Drake its second touchdown of the day by returning an interception for 38 yards. Warner's touchdown in the second-quarter was the Bulldogs first defensive score of the season.
"Everything builds around our defensive line on our team," said Fox. "When they come to play the way they did today all the things fall into place and it makes the job easy. We need to continue to have that group be dominate for us to be successful."
Prior to Warner's touchdown, senior
Brock Reichardt scored his third touchdown of the season on a 20-yard run. Reichardt capped of a 79-yard drive for the Bulldogs that took only eight plays and less than four minutes. In his first 100-yard game of his career, Reichardt led the Bulldogs with 106 rushing yards on 19 carries, averaging more than five yards a carry. Sophomore
Alex Bonds also added a career-high with five catches for 35 yards.
In his first career start for the Bulldogs, quarterback
Sam Hefner went 11-of-24 for 94 yards passing and two interceptions.
Drake's defense stifled Davidson in the first-half allowing only 76 yards of total offense. Davidson's only points in the opening half came from a 29-yard field goal as time expired in the second-quarter, which was set up by a Drake turnover.
The Wildcats came out strong in the second-half, forcing a Drake fumble on a punt return to set up great field position for themselves at the Drake 36-yard line. Davidson's kicker Trevor Smith added a 27-yarder to bring it to a one possession game, 14-6.
Drake gave themselves some breathing room early in the fourth-quarter with a 41-yard field goal from junior
Danny Donley to give the Bulldogs a 11-point lead, 17-6.
With less than two minutes to go, Davidson went for it on fourth-and-one, connecting for a seven-yard pass and the first down. Stockton McGuire connected with Williams Wicks for a 27-yard touchdown pass pulling the Wildcats within five, 17-12. However, a failed two-point conversion and a Drake recovered onside kick sealed the victory for the Bulldogs.
Against a strong Drake defense Davidson's leading rusher, Wesley Dugger, was held to just 80 yards after averaging more than 100 yards a game for the season.
The Bulldogs return to the road to take on Pioneer Football League leader San Diego Saturday, Nov. 4. Kickoff is scheduled for 4 p.m. CST.
"We are going to play a great football team at their place next week," said Fox. "We need to focus on what we need to do to play the best football that we can play and then we'll go from there."
