Jacks Run Past Drake, 37-21 Julius Loughridge rushed for 83 yards and a pair of touchdowns and true freshman running backs James Basinger and Corey Blair Jr. also found the end zone for a second-ranked South Dakota State squad that posted a 37-21 victory over Drake Saturday night at Dana J. Dykhouse Stadium. Playing before a Beef Bowl crowd of 19,213, the Jackrabbits improved to 3-0 overall and ran their home winning streak to 31 games. Drake, the two-time defending Pioneer League champion, fell to 1-1 on the season. Drake needed only five plays to score the first points of the night. Quarterback Xavier Washington scrambled for 14 yards and Jaden Meizinger ran for another 21 yards before Washington found Hank Foley open over the middle for a 31-yard touchdown 3 minutes and 7 seconds into the contest. The Jackrabbits gained the lead with touchdowns 35 seconds apart later in the first quarter. Following a short punt that placed the ball at the Drake 40, the Jackrabbits were aided by a pass interference penalty on the first play of the drive and scored three plays later when Alex Bullock caught a pass from Chase Mason in the left flat and scored from 9 yards out. SDSU linebacker Joe Ollman came up with a strip sack on the first play of the ensuing drive, with Dawson Ripperda falling on the loose ball at the Bulldog 19. This time, the Jackrabbits needed only two plays to find the end zone as Loughridge followed his blockers for a 15-yard touchdown run A 41-yard field goal by Harry Balke on the first snap of the second quarter pulled Drake to within 14-10, but the Jackrabbits extended their lead to 21-10 on a 2-yard touchdown run nearly seven minutes later by Basinger that capped a 12-play, 66-yard drive. Loughridge scored his second touchdown of the night on a 4-yard run to finish off the first drive of the third quarter. Drake stuck around behind the play of backup quarterback Logan Inagawa, who ran for a 3-yard touchdown midway through the third quarter, then tossed a two-point conversion to Nick Herman that cut the deficit to 28-18. SDSU responded with the next 10 points to put the game out of reach. Following an interception by Noah Thompson, freshman kicker Ryan Harrington connected on his first collegiate field goal — a 39-yarderd with under two minutes to play in the third quarter. The Jackrabbits strung together a 10-play, 59-yard drive in the fourth quarter for their final scoring drive of the night. Blair ended the march with a 5-yard touchdown run as he ended the night with 50 yards on six carries. A balanced SDSU offense ended the game with a 436-295 advantage in total yards gaining 225 yards through the air and 211 on the ground on a night in which the Jackrabbits never punted. Mason completed 18-of-25 passes, with Lofton O'Groseke tallying a game-high six catches for 78 yards and Bullock adding five receptions for 39 yards and his first touchdown as a Jackrabbit. Inagawa ended the night 15-of-25 passing for 140 yards and also was Drake's leading rusher with 58 yards on 14 carries. Jackson Voth led Bulldog receivers with five catches for 37 yards. Cullen McShane paced the Jackrabbit defense with nine tackles, followed by Ollman with seven stops, including two sacks. Chase Van Tol and Logan Green also registered sacks for SDSU. For Drake, Benjamin Wilson recorded a game-high 10 tackles. UP NEXT South Dakota State has its lone bye week of the regular season before closing out the nonconference slate with a Sept. 27 matchup against Mercyhurst. Kickoff is slated for 2 p.m. at Dana J. Dykhouse Stadium. NOTES Drake leads the all-time series, which dates back to 1945, by an 8-7 count SDSU has won the last six meetings against the Bulldogs The Jackrabbits improved to 37-21 in Beef Bowl games and extended its winning streak in the annual game to eight Blair broke off a 42-yard run in the third quarter on his first collegiate carry Mason's 18 completions, 225 passing yards and 265 yards of total offense were all career highs Ollman has forced a fumble in each of the Jackrabbits' three games this season Drake ended the scoring with a field goal in the closing seconds to close out an 18-play, 68-yard drive SDSU's 31-game home winning streak is tied with Middle Tennessee State (1987-94) for the fifth-longest in Football Championship Subdivision history -GoJacks.com- Related News Stories News Archives Full Standings