Stetson football coach Roger Hughes said going into Saturday's 2014 season finale against visiting Drake that the game would come down to who wanted it more.
The Bulldogs, thanks to a fourth quarter drive that took 21 plays to cover 90 yards, consuming more than nine minutes off the clock, proved that they wanted it just a little more than the Hatters.
With the loss, the Hatters finish their second season with a 5-7 overall record, including a 3-5 mark in Pioneer Football League play. Drake finished with a mark of 7-4, 6-2 in PFL competition to finish tied for second in the PFL with Dayton.
Drake actually had two long drives in the game, both coming with Stetson either in possession of the lead, or within one score.
“We have got to find a way to get a stop,” Hughes said. “We did it to ourselves. Penalties helped keep the drives going, and poor tackling. We have to take our hats off to them. When they needed a drive, they got it. I thought we would get the ball back on a very short field and they didn't let it happen.”
Both teams got off to fast starts offensively. Drake needed just seven plays on its first possession to put the first points on the board. T.J James did most of the heavy lifting, with runs of 7, 5, 13 and 10 yards before quarterback Andy Rice pushed his way in from the one-yard line.
Stetson answered back just four plays later when Hatters quarterback Ryan Tentler hooked up with Darius McGriff for a 64-yard score. The duo made eye contact before the play, and knew they were about to hit paydirt.
“All week we were practicing that play, trying to work it against one high and they show us a different look with two high, and left the middle of the field wide open,” Tentler said. “Darius and I looked at each other before the play and we knew it was going to be a touchdown.”
McGriff said that once he made the first defender miss, he had open grass.
“My eyes got huge, I was shocked there was no one around me,” McGriff said.
The Hatters converted on a two-point conversion play for the fourth time this year when Ryan Selimos threw to Mitch Lane for an 8-7 lead.
After exchanging punts, Drake started the first of its two long drives after an Eric Fogle punt was downed at the Bulldogs' three-yard line. Methodically the Bulldogs drove the length of the field, needing to complete just two passes on a 13-play scoring drive. Conley Wilkins, who led Drake with 81 yards on 16 carries, found the end zone from seven yards away to put the Bulldogs back on top 14-8.
“They were more physical than we thought,” defensive back Donald Payne said. “We really thought we were going to be a catch-and-throw team that would try to get deep balls. Thought it would be passing, but a lot of people like to run the ball on us and they tried to hammer it down our throats. We didn't know they were that physical.”
Drake added a field goal later in the second quarter after the first of three Stetson turnovers gave the Bulldogs possession at the Stetson 23. Spencer Lee knocked the field goal through from 21 yards, giving Drake a 17-8 lead. The Bulldogs added another field goal, this one from 29 yards, in the final minute of the half to take a 20-8 advantage into halftime.
With the steady rain increasing in intensity in the second half, the game turned into a battle for field position.
The Hatters were able to close to within 20-15 mid-way through the third quarter thanks to another big pass play. This time Tentler hooked up with Kegan Moore for a 69-yard gain, down to the one. Cole Mazza punched it in from there to get the Hatters within one score.
The exchange of punts continued until early in the fourth quarter when Fogle hit another beauty, pinning the Bulldogs at their own 10.
From there, Drake put the game away. The Bulldogs converted six times on the 21-play drive on third down, including conversions of 16 yards and 12 yards, twice. The final third down conversion came from the Stetson one when Rice again plunged into the end zone. The PAT made it 27-15 with just 4:52 left to play.
“We could get them to third down, we just couldn't finish it out,” Payne said. “We had three third-and-longs, we just couldn't come up with the last play of the drive. We just didn't finish it off. We fought as hard as we could. I know everybody left it on the field. We just couldn't find a way to finish today.”
Much of that game-clinching drive for Drake came with a number of backups on the field for the Hatters. Both starting corners – Glenn Adesoji and Chris Atkins – were out as were linebackers Ignacio Madrid, David Lazear and Eddie Curry.
“We're pretty beaten up,” Hughes said. “We had a triage unit down the sidelines with special teams and things like that. It's next man up. They have to step up and be ready to play at that level. Certainly, there's a falloff in game experience when that happens.”
Stetson still had some fight left, and drove the ball deep into the Drake red zone. After a pass interference call gave the Hatters a first and goal at the two, Tentler was hit from behind by Brad Duwe as he rolled to his right, and fumbled. Drake's Caz Zyks recovered to seal the Drake victory.
After the game, the Hatters talked about the disappointment of the last two games, and what they have to do to get better for 2015.
“Well, Coach Hughes is always saying 'what people remember is the last thing you did.',” Payne said. “So, people are going to remember that the last game of the season we didn't come up with a win. We are going to have a sour taste in our mouth for a couple of days, a week or so, but we are going to get back out there and be ready for 2015.”
Tentler finished with a strong performance despite his two turnovers, He completed 14-of-22 passes for 225 yards. Cole Mazza, who came into the game needing 130 yards to reach 1,000 for the season, fell well short. He finished the game with 52 yards on 20 carries to complete the season with 922 yards rushing.
Rice finished the game hitting on 18-of-27 pass attempts for 189 yards. The Bulldogs rushed for 204 yards in the game and finished with 393 yards to 307 for Stetson.
The Hatters were led defensively by Donald Payne with 17 tackles, giving him a final total for the season of 184. Marlin Hall also had 11 tackles in the game while Davion Belk and Ryan Powers had seven each. John Hugunin led Drake with 13 total tackles.
For the two Stetson seniors who played in their final game, the afternoon was bitter-sweet.
“Win or lose, we are a brotherhood out there,” Jake Paine said. “I love everybody. It was just fun going out there. I wish we could have come out on top. But, it was a lot of emotions. I was just having fun and we were flying around. I love it, I want to come back.”
Fletcher Eldemire, who has been a part of the new Stetson program from the very start, sent out a big thank you to Stetson President Dr. Wendy Libby and Director of Athletics Jeff Altier, who helped made the experience of the last three years possible.
“I want to thank them for giving me this chance,” Eldemire said. “You know, it goes by fast but I couldn't have asked for a better experience with any other team. The ability to play with people from all over the country – from Oregon to New York – from all sorts of different backgrounds, with different stories.”
Eldemire also had a message for the rest of the Hatters.
“I already told them, that next year I'm going to come back around in December and I better see a ring on that finger,” Eldemire said. “They better be showing it off.”
