DES MOINES, Iowa - Senior quarterback Grant Kraemer (Northridge, Calif.) threw for 359 yards and matched a school record he already held claim to with six touchdown passes in the Drake University football team's dominating 52-12 win over Missouri S&T Saturday, Sept. 15, at Drake Stadium.
 
Kraemer's afternoon came on 14-of-16 passing as the Bulldogs threw for 452 total yards, just three yards shy of the school record for passing yards in a game. Kraemer's six touchdowns tied his previous best against Southwestern last year and Ira Vandever's six touchdowns against San Diego in 2002.
 
"Offensively, Grant and the receivers were just connecting today," said Drake head coach Rick Fox. "That's a mature group. They've played a lot of plays together and you saw that pay off today."
 
Drake's (1-1) defense held Missouri S&T (2-1) to just 175 total yards and forced a pair of turnovers, including an interception return for a touchdown by Will Warner (Pella, Iowa). Zac Rujawitz (Edwardsville, Ill.) and Kieran Severa (Lawrence, Kan.) had eight and seven tackles, respectively.
 
"I was really pleased with our defense and they kept it rolling," Fox said. "We're going to need that heading into conference play and it was good to see so many guys step up and make plays."  
Kraemer wasted little time in getting the Bulldogs' offense into gear as he found Drew Lauer (St. Peters, Mo.) wide open on the near sideline on the game's fourth play from scrimmage. With no one near him after the short completion, Lauer sprinted 58 yards to the endzone to begin an afternoon that saw him catch three passes for 134 yards.
 
Drake pulled out a nearly identical play on its next possession with Kraemer hitting Mitch McFarlane (Fon du Lac, Wis.) with nothing but daylight in front of him for a 65-yard touchdown to cap the opening quarter's scoring.
 
"I'm proud of how we got started and that's big on a day like this with the heat," Fox said. "The heat was a big factor in the game. Getting those two scores and getting up early was really significant."
 
The defense created excellent field position all day and helped set up a 6-yard Kraemer to Devin Cates (Yuba City, Calif.) touchdown to open the second half. Missouri S&T answered with a 33-yard gain on 3rd-and-5 that set up a 3-yard Aaron Moya touchdown run to account for the Miners only offensive score of the day.
 
Kraemer and Cates connected again to end the second half on a 5-yard touchdown pass. That score was a result of a short pass to Lauer that turned into a 72-yard gain as Lauer's gritty running broke countless attempted tackles.
 
Drake enjoyed a 28-6 lead at halftime but did not relent, scoring on its first drive of the second half on a 50-yard touchdown pass from Kraemer to Stephen Doran (Germantown, Wis.). Doran finished the day with 112 yards on five receptions.
 
The Bulldogs' next drive ended with Kraemer's second touchdown of the day to McFarlane to give Drake a 42-6 cushion in the third quarter.
 
Placekicker Danny Donley (Tulsa, Okla.), who was perfect on the day, hit a 38-yard field goal to open the third quarter.
 
After seeing the offense rack up points, the defense got in on the act when Warner intercepted a Miner pass and returned it 26 yards for the touchdown to put an exclamation mark on Drake's dominance on both sides of the ball.
 
One of the Bulldogs' few missteps on the day came in the final 10 seconds of the contest when Drake was forced to punt and Missouri S&T's Rod Chapman collected a 38-yard punt and returned it 82 yards as time expired to account for the final 52-12 tally.
 
Following Saturday's impressive win, the Bulldogs enjoy a bye week before beginning Pioneer Football League action Saturday, Sept. 29, at Jacksonville.