 Senior tailback Rafael Rice had a career night against the Bulldogs
in just the fourth start of his career. Rice rushed 27 times for 218
yards and two touchdowns, all career-high marks. He became the first
Redbird to gain over 200 yards on the ground since Pierre Rembert
had 210 against Northern Iowa last season. He added a pair of
catches for 12 yards to give him 230 all-purpose yards.Senior
wide receiver Jason Horton had a career-high eight catches for 119
yards, one shy of his career best. Senior quarterback Luke Drone was
20-for-35 for 235 yards, with one touchdown and three interceptions.
Senior linebacker Kye Stewart led the Redbird defense with 15
tackles, the 15th double-digit effort of his career, and had a sack
and a pass breakup. Sophomore cornerback Jason Tate had a
career-best nine tackles, including the first sack of his career.
Rice opened up Illinois State's second possession with a 43-yard
run up the middle, the longest rush of his career. He followed that
with a 14-yard pickup, putting the ball in the Drake red zone. After
a pair of short rushes and a sack, junior placekicker Kevin Mazur
kicked a 30-yard field goal to put the Redbirds on top 3-0.
The Redbirds moved quickly to score their first touchdown,
marching 80 yards in just nine plays. Drone completed four-of-five
passes to start the drive and move ISU into Drake territory. After
that, it was all Rice, who rushed three times in the next four plays
for 39 yards. He found the end zone on a 17-yard run where he
bounced outside to the left and used a seal block by junior wide
receiver Kelvin Chandler. Mazur tacked on the extra point and the
'Birds led 10-0.
On the ensuing Drake possession, senior defensive lineman Jarek
Thomas forced a fumble when he sacked Drake quarterback Cole Ingle,
and redshirt freshman Mike Piton recovered it at the Drake 45-yard
line. The Redbirds couldn't capitalize, however, as Drone threw an
interception three plays later, giving the ball right back to the
Bulldogs.
The Redbirds dominated the first half, compiling 257 total yards
to just 89 for Drake. The ISU defense limited the Bulldogs to six
first downs and had three sacks in the opening half.
Drake's defense turned the game around early in the third
quarter. The Bulldogs had interceptions on ISU's first two
possessions of the second half and turned both takeaways into
scores. Cornerback Poul Collins picked off Drone's third pass of the
opening drive, and that set up a 36-yard field goal by Logan Rees to
put the Bulldogs on the board. Drone's first pass of the next
possession was intercepted by linebacker Cale Hunt, who returned it
24 yards down the sideline for a touchdown to tie the game at 10-10.
[to top of second column] |
Drone and the Redbird offense shook off the back-to-back
turnovers with a seven-play, 80-yard drive on their next possession
to regain the lead at 17-10. Drone had three completions on the
drive, capped by an 8-yard touchdown pass to Chandler. It was the
first touchdown reception for Chandler, who transferred to ISU this
year from Pittsburgh.
Drake cut the lead to 17-13 on a 35-yard field goal by Reese with
just a minute left in the third quarter.
Drake put together its best offensive drive of the game early in
the fourth quarter. The Bulldogs went 83 yards in 10 plays to take
its first lead of the game, 20-17. Ingle completed three passes for
64 yards on the scoring drive. He hit tight end Daniel Marx on a
crossing route, and Marx fought through two Illinois State defenders
for a 28-yard score that put the Bulldogs on top.
Illinois State answered right back with a seven-play, 69-yard
drive, capped by an 11-yard touchdown run by Rice.
Drake's final drive started on its own 10-yard line with 1:23
left in the game. A penalty pushed the Bulldogs back to the 5-yard
line, but Ingle completed three straight passes to bring Drake near
midfield. After an incompletion, Ingle threw a pass to the outside
that was tipped by Tate and caught by Drake wide receiver Augustine
Agyei, who streaked 56 yards down the sideline for the winning
touchdown.
ISU brought the ball into Drake territory, but a last-second Hail
Mary was knocked down in the end zone.
Illinois State hosts Murray State on Saturday at 6:30 p.m.
(ISU-Drake box
score)
[To download Adobe Acrobat Reader for
the PDF file, click
here.]
[Text from file received from John A.
Sandberg,
Illinois
State University]
 |
