INDIANAPOLIS – Drake scored a go-ahead touchdown with less than three minutes to play in the fourth quarter and stopped Butler's last drive of the contest to claim their first outright PFL Title since 2004. Each team went 2-for-2 in the red zone but Drake had two, two-yard TD's and the Bulldogs had to settle for two field goals.
The Bulldogs scored first on Saturday off a 38-yard field goal from
Luka Zurak, but Drake would own a 7-3 lead at the break. Luke Bailey threw a two-yard TD pass to Hunter Johnson with 2:48 left in the second quarter. Defense was the name of the game after 30 minutes as each team recorded just over 100 yards of offense.
The Bulldogs made a statement in the second half and used a 13-play 68-yard drive to get points on the board on their opening possession. Butler got down to the Drake six-yard line but were held to a 23-yard Zurak field goal to get within a point of Drake.
A quick three and out followed for the Drake offense and Butler would march 51 yards on 12 plays to end the third quarter with the lead as Zurak nailed a 48-yard field goal.
Each team would have two drives in the fourth and Drake maximized on one of theirs to score a TD after 11 plays. The visitors covered 78 yards and crossed the goal line with a Dorian Boyland two-yard rush to make the game 13-9.
Butler's offense got to midfield after the score to make the final minutes interesting, but Finn Claypool would break up the comeback effort with two sacks to move BU behind the sticks. Claypool ended the game with nine total tackles, including three for loss. Linden Howe also played well for the Drake defense, leading the crew with 10 tackles and a sack.
Butler ran 20 more plays than Drake, had four more first downs, outgained Drake by 89 yards, and dominated time of possession.
Jyran Mitchell and
Joey Audia led the rushing attack on Saturday with 55 and 50 yards respectively.
Bret Bushka played well in his final start at the Sellick Bowl. He completed 21 of his 34 pass attempts for 140 yards. Bushka hit
Luke Wooten six times on nine targets. Wooten led all players with 65 receiving yards and now has over 1,000 yards in his BU career. Mitchell added six receptions for 19 yards out of the backfield.
Outside of the touchdown scores from Johnson and Boyland, the Drake unsung hero award might go to punter Shane Dunning. All six punts were downed inside the 20-yard line, his longest traveled 61 yards and his average over the six rested at 47.5 yards.
Defensively, Butler played well limiting Drake to 176 yards of total offense.
Austin Korba had a sack and a tackle for loss in the setback while Jeremiah Johnson led all 'Dawgs with six stops.
Butler's season comes to a close with a 7-4 overall record that includes a 5-3 mark in the PFL. All three of their PFL losses came at a combined 13 points.
