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Drake Football Flashback - Dayton - Oct. 20, 2018

The Drake Football Flashback highlights the top nine games picked by longtime radio play by play broadcaster, Chuck Reed.

The Drake Football Flashback highlights the top nine games picked by longtime radio play by play broadcaster, Chuck Reed. Reed selected his nine top games during his tenure calling the action on the gridiron for the Bulldogs. This week's game is by presented by UnityPoint Clinic Sports Medicine & Concussion Center and features Drake's 28-17 win over Pioneer Football League rival, Dayton, on Oct. 20, 2018.

DAYTON, Ohio - The Drake University football team's running game had its best showing of the season while the Bulldogs' defense continued its dominance in a 28-17 road win at Pioneer Football League Rival Dayton Saturday, Oct. 20, 2018.

Drake (4-2, 3-1 PFL) rushed for a season-high 176 yards with Drew Lauer (St. Peter's Mo.) running for a career-high 140 yards and a pair of touchdowns in a breakout performance.

The PFL's top-ranked defense lived up to its billing by holding Dayton to 297 total yards. Dayton quarterback Jack Cook, who threw for a school-record 432 yards in Dayton's last game, was limited to 194 yards passing. Additionally, one of the Flyers' three scores on the day came after an interception was returned to the 2-yard line.

"If you take away that score where they had the ball on the 2-yard line, our defense gave up 10 points today," said former Drake head coach Rick Fox. "To do that against an offense like Dayton says a lot about how awesome our defense was today."
The defensive performance was a team effort as eight Bulldogs recorded four or more tackles with Kieran Severa (Lawrence, Kan.) and Zac Rujawitz (Edwardsville, Ill.) leading the way with six each. Safety Will Warner (Pella, Iowa) knocked away three passes while making three solo stops.

Dayton (3-5, 1-3 PFL) took an early 7-0 lead in the first quarter when Jack Albers picked off a deflected Grant Kraemer pass on the 16-yard line and returned it to the 2-yard line. Two plays later, Richie Warfield darted in from the 1-yard line with 12 minutes left in the opening quarter.

Drake went to the ground to answer back with Lauer carrying three times for 25 yards to start the drive before quarterback Grant Kraemer (Northridge, Calif.) connected with Steven Doran (Germantown, Wis.) for a 42-yard completion to the 2-yard line. Lauer carried the ball in on the next play for his first of two scores of the day.

Dayton retook the lead to start the second quarter on a 22-yard field goal, but Drake answered the bell again with a 10-play, 75-yard drive that ended with Kraemer finding Doran in the back of the endzone for a 6-yard touchdown pass.

"When you're playing a great team like Dayton, you're going to have adversity," Fox said of Dayton's early scores. "But we kept battling and kept playing hard."

The defense ratcheted up the pressure on the next two drives, forcing Dayton punts to close the first half with a 14-10 lead.

A defensive stop to open the third quarter fueled the offense to start another long drive that went 77 yards and ended with Kraemer connecting with Doran again from two yards out to put Drake up, 21-10.

Drake's defense held the Flyers to just five total yards of offense in the third quarter and allowed only 3:18 of possession in the quarter.

"I am so proud of our guys and the way they battled," Fox added of the team pulling away in the third quarter. "It was great football. It wasn't perfect, but it was a great gritty and scrappy effort from beginning to end."

Drake extended its lead in the opening minutes of the fourth quarter when Dayton's quarterback lost the ball in the backfield and Drake defensive lineman Nathan Clayberg (Pella, Iowa) recovered on the Dayton 12-yard line. The Bulldogs put the ball back in the hands of Lauer on the next play for a 12-yard touchdown run and his second score of the day.

"We've been working a lot on our running game," Fox said of Lauer's day and the running game. "It was really starting to click in practice this week and you saw that today. But, that doesn't happen without the offensive line dominating up front like they did today."

The Flyers tacked on a touchdown on their next drive after a goalline stand by the Bulldogs was negated by a penalty to draw within two scores at 28-17 with 11 minutes remaining.

Drake committed two potentially costly turnovers on its next two possessions as it tried to seal the victory. However, the defense continued to dominate and prevented the Flyers from getting inside the Drake 40-yard line to preserve the hard-fought road win.
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Players Mentioned

Nathan Clayberg

#46 Nathan Clayberg

DL
6' 5"
Fifth Year
Steven Doran

#81 Steven Doran

WR
6' 3"
Senior
Grant Kraemer

#15 Grant Kraemer

QB
6' 3"
Fifth Year
Drew Lauer

#20 Drew Lauer

RB
5' 10"
Senior
Zac Rujawitz

#54 Zac Rujawitz

LB
6' 1"
Senior
Kieran Severa

#34 Kieran Severa

LB
6' 0"
Fifth Year
Will Warner

#21 Will Warner

DB
6' 3"
Junior

Players Mentioned

Nathan Clayberg

#46 Nathan Clayberg

6' 5"
Fifth Year
DL
Steven Doran

#81 Steven Doran

6' 3"
Senior
WR
Grant Kraemer

#15 Grant Kraemer

6' 3"
Fifth Year
QB
Drew Lauer

#20 Drew Lauer

5' 10"
Senior
RB
Zac Rujawitz

#54 Zac Rujawitz

6' 1"
Senior
LB
Kieran Severa

#34 Kieran Severa

6' 0"
Fifth Year
LB
Will Warner

#21 Will Warner

6' 3"
Junior
DB