Davidson Football Heads to Drake for Saturday PFL Showdown

Davidson Wildcats (2-4, 2-2 PFL) vs. Drake Bulldogs (4-3, 3-1 PFL)
Oct. 23, 2010 - Des Moines, Iowa
Drake Stadium (14,557) - 1 p.m. (CT) - FieldTurf

Full game notes (PDF)

Today's Game
• Davidson travels to Drake for a PFL contest.
• The Wildcats are 5-9 in their last 14 road games, dating back to 2008.
• Davidson is 10-15 all-time in league games on the road, including 5-8 in its last 13.
• Davidson is 17-17 in its last 34 PFL contests and owns a 23-25 all-time PFL record.
• The 'Cats are coming off a 17-10 victory at Morehead State last Saturday.
• Drake is coming off a 14-12 victory at Campbell last Saturday. It was the second straight conference road game for the Bulldogs.
• This is Drake's third home game this season.
• Davidson was picked seventh in the Pioneer Football League, while Drake was picked fourth.

Series Record
• Drake holds a 4-1 series lead, with the one loss, a 24-21 setback, coming in Richardson Stadium in 2007.
• The last three contests have each been decided by five points or less. Drake won last season's meeting 21-16 at Davidson.
• Drake quarterback Mike Piatkowski threw for 220 yards, and Michael Lahart returned a blocked field goal 58 yards for a touchdown to spark the Bulldogs to a 21-16 win.
• Michael Blanchard completed 14 passes for 125 yards and ran for 35 yards for the Wildcats, while Andrew Aldrich caught six passes for 54 yards. The Davidson defense had six sacks in the game with Tyler Lemons leading the way with two, and Peter Kidwell got his second career interception to go along with eight hits.
• Stephen Platek had a 63-yard run for a touchdown to erase a three-point halftime deficit for the Bulldogs, and his 64-yard reception late in the first quarter set up Drake's first touchdown of the game.
• Drake's third big play of the game proved to be the difference. Trailing 14-10, the Wildcats attempted a 43-yard field goal, but Drake came through the left side of the line with Ben Morrison getting the block. Lahart scooped up the ball and had a clear path to the end zone for a commanding 21-10 lead with 4:53 left in the third quarter.
• In the last meeting at Drake in 2008, trailing 20-17, the 'Cats had a chance to tie the score as time ran off the clock, but Drake blocked a Ben Behrendt 28-yard field goal try.
• Down three points, the Davidson defense got the offense the ball back on its own 33-yard line with 1:58 left in the game and no timeouts. Quarterback Ryan Alexander completed five passes, the last an 18-yard strike to Mark Hanabury, to move the ball down to the Drake 12-yard line with 12 seconds remaining.
• The 'Cats took a shot at the end zone, but after Alexander's pass fell incomplete with seven seconds left, had to settle for the field goal try. After Drake called a timeout, Behrendt's kick blasted into a host of Bulldogs that came crashing through the line as the horn sounded, and David Witkiewicz was credited with the block.
• Alexander finished the game with 210 passing yards and a touchdown, and Kenny Mantuo rushed 13 times for 72 yards and a score.

Scouting the Bulldogs
• Quarterback Mike Piatkowski has thrown for 1,280 yards and nine TDs and completed 58.5 percent of his passes.
• Drew Blackmon leads the receiving corps with 394 yards and four TDs. He's averaging 13.1 yards a catch.
• Pat Cashmore leads Drake in rushing with 227 yards on 56 carries.
• Dain Taylor has 32 tackles with 14 for loss and seven sacks. Ben Morrison leads the team with 50 tackles.
• The Bulldogs have combined for 19 sacks and 52 tackles for loss this season.

Weekly Honors
• Lewis McAlister and Lanny Funsten earned weekly honors after leading the Wildcats to a 17-10 win last week.
• The Pioneer Football League named McAlister its Defensive Player of the Week, and he was named FCS Honorable Mention National Defensive Lineman of the Week by the College Football Performance Awards.
• The sophomore defensive tackle recorded three tackles in the game, but all three were sacks, a career high.
• His last sack came on Morehead State's last possession of the game and caused a fumble, which put the Eagles into a 4th-and-32 situation, effectively ending their chance at a possible game-tying touchdown.
• His second sack came on 3rd-and-3 when the Eagles led 10-9 earlier in the quarter and forced Morehead State to punt, setting up Davidson's game-winning scoring drive.
• Funsten was named FCS National Wide Receiver of the Week by the College Football Performance Awards. The sophomore had seven receptions for 175 yards and two touchdowns, including a 71-yard catch and run that turned out to be the game-winning touchdown with 2:15 left in the contest.
• Funsten also caught a 25-yard touchdown pass in the game.
• His 175 receiving yards is the 11th-highest total in school history and the most for a Wildcat since Ryan Hubbard had 189 yards against Valparaiso in 2007.
• Funsten has 11 receptions for 237 yards and three TDs in his last two games.

Claw Marks
• During head coach Tripp Merritt's tenure, the Wildcats are 17-5 when winning the turnover battle.
• Running back Kenny Mantuo ranks fourth on the Davidson all-time rushing list, with 1,699 yards. He rushed for a career-high 181 yards at Campbell, his fifth game with 100 yards or more. It was the most yards since classmate Justin Williams ran for 225 at Butler in 2007.
• Williams needs 62 punt return yards to become the school's all-time leader. Already Davidson's record holder in kick return yards, Williams needs 757 all-purpose yards to break the school's career mark in that category. Williams reached 1,000 rushing yards for his career with 37 against Jacksonville. Williams also needs 117 yards to become the PFL's all-time leader in kick return yardage (Justin Campbell, Butler, 2001-04).
• Mark Hanabury needs 217 receiving yards to reach 1,000 for his career.
• Ben Behrendt has 15 career field goals, which ranks third at Davidson. His 48-yarder against Jacksonville is a career high.
• Head coach Tripp Merritt has moved into fifth place on Davidson's all-time win chart (25). He is 10 away from fourth place, his former mentor, Tim Landis.
• Davidson has lost eight of its last nine season openers and are 7-3 in its last 10 home openers.

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