The Drake Bulldogs opened their Pioneer Football League season with a convincing win over the Stetson Hatters on Saturday. Running back Conley Wilkins finished the game with 252 all-purpose yards as he helped lead the Bulldogs to a 41-3 win. Cody Thibault got the start over the injured Andy Rice at quarterback for Drake. He finished with 235 yards, three touchdowns, and three interceptions.
“I couldn’t be more proud of him today especially after a tough game last week,” Fox said. “It takes a lot of courage to comeback.”
Fox also said that Andy Rice’s injury is listed as day to day and we won’t know who is playing QB against Campbell until later in the week.
It’s awesome,” LB and Captain John Hugunin said. “I told the guys before the game, us seniors only have four games left on this field, so we’ve got to make them special. This is a special place and to start off the senior season like that, it means a lot to me.”
“In this conference you have to win at home, it was so big to do that at home,” Head Coach Rick Fox said.
The Bulldog defense started off slowly before earning three tackles for a loss in a row to slow down the Stetson offense. The case was the opposite for Drake’s offense, who opened up the game with a 69-yard run by Conley Wilkins. Drake, however would go on to miss a field goal at the end of that drive.
After one quarter, it was still knotted up at zero a piece.
It took Thibault some time to get comfortable, but once that happened it was smooth sailing. Drake converted a field goal early in the second quarter, then scored on an 11-yard touchdown pass from Thibault to tight end Lee Snell. The Bulldogs led 10-0 with 8:28 remaining in the half. Later in the game, Stetson picked off Thibault, and that turnover led to a Hatters field goal. The score was 10-3, and it seemed like Stetson could stay in the game. Conley Wilkins ended up making sure that did not happen, and he also got some help from Wilkins, who countered the Stetson field goal with a 100-yard kick return for a touchdown to extend Drake’s lead to 17-3.
Drake got the ball back before the half, but Thibault’s Hail Mary attempt was intercepted to end the first. Drake did not waste any time getting back on the board, and scored a touchdown on a diving catch by wide receiver Zach Zlabis. The Bulldogs lead 24-3 after the PAT. At the end of the third quarter, Drake made another field goal and led 27-3.
Thibault stayed in the game and earned one more touchdown, this one a 55-yarder to AJ Spitz. Junior quarterback Andrew Clifford got in for the last half of the fourth quarter, and led a 50-yard drive that ended in a touchdown. That score put Drake up 41-3 with just 3:49 remaining in the game. The Bulldogs would get the ball back on an interception by Grant Krueger and would run the clock out to end the game. It was an impressive outing by the Drake Bulldogs.
