MISSOULA, Mont. – Drake football went on the road to the third-ranked Montana Grizzlies on Saturday afternoon. Despite a tilted final score, the Bulldogs challenged Montana from the first drive and saw significant growth in all phases.
The highly ranked Grizzlies opened the game on offense, and Drake's defensive unit rose to the task right away. The Bulldogs forced Montana to go three-and-out and punt the ball away for their first try on offense.
Drake then looked stymied on its initial drive, but a 67-yard throw-and-run from
Riley Warzynski to
Willis Nofsinger got the Dogs deep into Montana territory. The Grizzly defense did its job backed up to their own goal line, keeping the Bulldogs to a field goal attempt.
Griffin Kollhoff calmly chipped in a 22-yard kick for the first points of the game.
The Bulldogs got a little help on Montana's ensuing drive as an ineligible man downfield offset what would have been an automatic first down after a Drake defense was flagged for pass interference. Despite the dual penalties slowing the Montana march, the hosts were able to convert on a lengthy fourth down to keep its drive alive.
Star running back Eli Gillman later picked up another fourth down conversion on a direct snap, just one play before charging through a pair of Bulldogs for a touchdown.
Gillman scored again on Montana's next drive, which was shortened after the Grizzlies snuffed out a Bulldog fourth-down attempt, giving Montana a 14-3 lead. The hosts held on to that advantage through the rest of the first period.
Drake looked to have some momentum going as the first period got underway. The Bulldogs traversed to the doorstep of the endzone once again, but a sack fumble bounced into the hands of a Grizzly defender, promptly flipping things back in Montana's favor.
And who did Montana turn to to cap of its next drive? None other than Eli Gillman who scampered home from one yard out for his third score of the day, giving the Grizzlies a 21-3 cushion.
Drake again found a rhythm on its next voyage down the gridiron. The Bulldogs dug deep into offensive coordinator Joe Matheson's bag of tricks, which included a few plays where quarterbacks Warzynski and
Chase Spellman were both on the field at the same time. Spellman did his job, rushing for 17 yards on two consecutive plays. Drake also tried a double pass with
Mitchell January narrowly overthrowing
Kobe Lewis in the corner of the endzone.
Another ill-timed infraction then backed the Bulldogs up and caused their drive to stall. Facing a 4th-and-20, Kollhoff entered for his second field goal try of the day. But this one hooked left, keeping the 21-3 Montana lead intact.
The first half ended on a high note for the Dogs as Nicholas Humphires sped around the edge to block a Montana field goal. The Drake offense could not put anything together in short order with the game clock under a minute to go in the half and both teams went into their respective locker rooms with Montana still leading 21-3.
Three Montana defensive pass interference calls in the first eight plays of the second half gave the Drake attack a jolt out of the halftime pause. The Bulldogs swiftly moved the ball inside the Grizzlies' 1-yard line, but the stoic Montana D held up, keeping Spellman out of the endzone on three straight quarterback keepers. A Drake false start moved the Dogs back on fourth down. Drake's offense stayed on the field for another fourth down try, but Warzynski's pass fell incomplete as the Bulldogs were again thwarted in scoring position.
The deficit was well out of reach for the Bulldogs as the third period hit its halfway point. The Grizzlies were able to score two more times in the third quarter, one of which was a passing TD to Gillman for his fourth score of the afternoon.
Drake eventually found paydirt midway through the fourth frame when Warzynski floated the ball to a swinging
Kavaughn Clark. The nearest Montana defender was taken out by a solid Bulldog block, allowing Clark to stroll in untouched for Drake's lone touchdown of the day.
The Clark touchdown narrowed the hosts' lead a touch, but an eventual 50-yard field goal and one final Grizzly touchdown re-extended the margin to its final tally of 38-10 in favor of Montana.
"We walked off the field feeling pretty bad last week but I am so proud of our kids today," Drake head coach Matt Walker said. "We fought…we moved the football all day. The game was much more even than the score indicated, [Montana] obviously finished more drives, but we had plenty of opportunities. Credit to them, we knew we would have our hands full and certainly didn't play a perfect game, but our kids are so dedicated and bought in."
Riley Warzynski had another solid day throwing the football with 31 completions on 60 attempts for 252 yards and a score.
Kavaughn Clark hauled in Drake's only touchdown pass, but
Willis Nofsinger led the Bulldog receiving corps with 89 yards on six receptions.
Back-up quarterback
Chase Spellman's legs led the way for Drake rushing attack with 20 yards on five carries.
Defensively,
Skylar James made a team-high 10 tackles and had a tackle-for-loss, which was Drake's only stop behind the line of scrimmage all day.
The Bulldogs will return to action next weekend when they visit former head coach Todd Stepsis and the Northern Iowa Panthers in Cedar Falls. Drake and UNI are set to start inside the UNI-Dome at 1 p.m.
