DES MOINES, Iowa – Drake football saw its 6-game Pioneer Football League winning streak come to an end against a red-hot St. Thomas team on Saturday. The Tommies came up with a few key stops down the stretch as Drake, despite a remarkable effort, could not overcome early miscues in a snowy 20-13 contest.

Drake (6-3, 5-1) received the opening kickoff to start Saturday's matchup and had its sights set on scoring first. The Bulldogs maneuvered down the field with a couple splash completions from Logan Inagawa to Jackson Voth to keep the drive alive. Drake's ground game was eventually thwarted, setting up a field goal attempt by Harry Balke.

Balke never got his kick in the air, though, as Brett Welsing's snap was high, forcing holder Luke Woodson out of his crouch. Woodson opted to try and pick up the conversion with his feet, scrambling around the left end, but St. Thomas (7-3, 5-2) came up with the stop, turning the Bulldogs over on downs.

The Tommies took their turn marching towards a score and were ultimately successful for the first score of the afternoon. The Drake defense seemed to get a stop backed up against its own endzone, but St. Thomas executed a fake field goal to get on the board and take a 7-0 lead at the end of the first quarter.

Drake answered on the first possession of the second stanza as Logan Inagawa found the corner and crossed the line for six. Inagawa's sixth rushing TD of the year knotted the score at seven apiece.

The two teams then traded punts before St. Thomas was able to connect on a 25-yard field goal to break the stalemate.

Drake was able to answer again on the ensuing trip as the Bulldogs orchestrated a 9-play, 49-yard drive that sapped the remaining 3:48 left in the first half. Balke split the uprights with a 35-yard kick as time expired, evening the score at 10-10.

The Bulldog defense forced a St. Thomas punt to open the second half but Drake gave it right back to the visitors. Inagawa lofted a fade down the sideline intended for a streaking Jackon Voth, but UST's Ryan Calcagno beat Voth to the ball and picked it off.

Kemani Wilson nearly replicated the takeaway with a dropped interception of his own, but St. Thomas could not get anything else going as Preston Franklin punted again.

The back-and-forth action continued until St. Thomas was able to jump back in front after a short Gabriel Abel scoring run. The Abel TD gave St. Thomas a 17-10 lead after three completed periods.

Drake tried to retaliate on its next drive, but a botched flea flicker try set the Bulldogs well behind the chains. A couple substantial gains got the Dogs back in business with a fresh set of downs, but the Tommie defense made another stand to keep Drake out of the endzone. Balke entered and converted another field goal, this time from 41 yards out, to make it 17-14 in favor of the Tommies with just over 10 minutes to play.

St. Thomas tacked on another 3-pointer later in the quarter after scraping its way down to the 1-yard line on Drake's end of the turf. The Bulldog defense stonewalled UST's offensive push to force the successful kick. St. Thomas led 20-13 with roughly three minutes remaining.

Drake started piecing a drive together as the 2-minute timeout came and went. The Bulldogs got to midfield before three straight incompletions prompted a do-or-die fourth down situation. St. Thomas brought pressure as Inagawa tossed downfield toward Hank Foley's outstretched arms, but Joseph Obeto poked the ball away at the last second, turning the Dogs over on downs.

Head coach Joe Woodley quickly spent all three timeouts as the Tommies regained possession. One minute and 11 seconds were left on the clock as St. Thomas was forced to punt it back to the home squad.

Drake, now without a timeout to spare, had to traverse 91 yards in under 60 seconds for a chance to tie. The Bulldogs strung a couple positive gains together, but the St. Thomas defense was too stringent as the Tommies forced another turnover on downs to secure the 20-13 win.

"We've got a special group of guys with great leadership, and I never thought there was going to be any kind of quit, but just wasn't enough," Woodley said. "The opponent has a lot to do with it, St. Thomas is a really great football team and they're on fire right now. We just have to look inward…where did we make those critical mistakes that cost us a football game. It seemed like we were on our side of the field for most of the second half, and just couldn' t overcome it…felt like it was all uphill today. But that's the nature of this game."

Inagawa was 14-of-22 through the air with a pick but ran for 71 yards and a score. Nick Herman added 60 yards on the ground. Taj Hughes was Drake's leading receiver with 55 yards on eight catches.

Defensively, Garrison Codde and Sean Allison each logged a dozen tackles while the former posted two for a loss and latter made a sack.

Drake will be on the road next weekend for another tough test away from home. The Bulldogs will battle Dayton on Nov. 15.