The Jackrabbits played in front of a home crowd consisting of 19,213 fans last Friday night against Drake.
The Jackrabbits beat Drake 37-21 to move to 3-0 on the season, while Drake fell to 1-1.
Quarterback Chase Mason had a successful night, completing 18 of his 25 passes for 225 yards and a touchdown. He also added 51 yards rushing on eight attempts.
Mason’s number one receiver, Lofton O’Groske, also had a solid night. O’Groske caught six balls for 78 yards and had eight yards rushing.
Grahm Goering had a season high in receiving against Drake by hauling in three balls for 65 yards, including a 44-yard catch.
Besides quarterback Chase Mason, two other Jacks had over 50 yards rushing, those players being Julius Loughridge, who had 20 carries for 83 yards and two touchdowns. Freshman Corey Blaire had exactly 50 yards and added one touchdown to his stat line.
Defensively, Joe Ollman had a big night with seven tackles, two sacks and a forced fumble.
Cullen McShane also had a successful game with nine tackles, with two and a half being for loss.
Drake’s passing leader, Logan Inagawa, threw for 140 yards and an interception. He was also the team’s rushing leader with 58 yards rushing and a touchdown.
Starting quarterback Xavier Washington was three of four passing with 34 yards and a touchdown before he went down with an injury.
Hank Foley was the Bulldog’s leading receiver with three catches for 54 yards and a touchdown.
Drake started on offense and the Jacks’ defense had no answer for them to start the game. On third down, Bulldog quarterback Xavier Washington ran for 14 yards on a keeper. The next play, running back Jaden Meizinger ripped off a 23-yard run. And to follow that play up Xavier Washington threw a 31-yard touchdown to Hank Foley to put the Bulldogs up 7-0.
The Jackrabbit offense looked just as unstoppable as the Drake offense to start the possession. An Alex Bullock catch got the jacks their first first-down of the drive. Following that play, Chase Mason ran for 16 yards and Lofton O’Groske caught an 11-yard pass from Mason to get the Jacks their third first down in three straight plays. The jacks eventually found themselves with a fourth and four, which wasn’t converted and Drake took over.
It was a short-lived drive for Drake as they went three and out and punted it right back to SDSU. Punter Ryan Schroeder shanked the ball and it resulted in a 20-yard punt with the Jacks taking over at the Drake 40-yard line.
The Jacks took advantage of the field position and after a Drake penalty they found themselves at the 25-yard line. Chase Mason ended the drive when he threw a nine-yard touchdown to Alex Bullock to tie the game up.
The next Drake drive was another short one. On the first play of the drive, Joe Ollman had a strip sack on Xavier Washington, with Dawson Ripperda recovering the fumble on the Drake 19-yard line. Washington was injured on the play and didn’t return.
The Jacks made short work with great field position, as on the second play of the drive, Julius Loughridge got his first touchdown of the season when he broke free for a 15-yard touchdown run to take the lead 14-7.
Logan Inagawa was the guy under center starting the next possession, taking over for Washington. Inagawa’s first drive wasn’t a success as the team went three and out.
The Jackrabbits’ drive wasn’t much of a success either. As Julius Loughridge got stopped on fourth and one, giving the Bulldogs the ball back at the SDSU 48-yard line.
After a big gain on an Inagawa completion to Taj Hughes, Drake found themselves with good field position, but the drive stalled and Harry Balke hit a field goal to make the score 14-10.
The Jacks started methodically driving the ball down the field with help from two Grahm Goering first down catches and a Lofton O’Groske 10-yard catch. James Basinger eventually punched in a two-yard touchdown to extend the lead to 21-10.
Another three-and-out for the Bulldogs gave the ball back to SDSU. An explosive 44-yard pass play by Chase Mason to Grahm Goering gave the Jacks a first and 10 from the 14-yard line. SDSU was turned away on a fourth and two and gave the ball back to Drake.
Drake took over from their own six and managed to march the ball down the field and brought on Harry Balke to attempt a 44-yard kick before the half. The kick was missed and the Jacks headed into half up 21-10
The Jacks took the field on offense to start the third quarter and they came out strong. The first two plays were runs to Julius Loughridge, where he gained a combined 13 yards. Lofton O’Groske grabbed a first down after an 11-yard catch. A few plays later, O’Groske caught a 24-yard back shoulder ball at the four-yard line. Loughridge got his second touchdown of the day when he ran it in from four yards out. The Loughridge score made it 28-10, Jacks.
Drake came out of the second strong. After multiple big gains, a 24-yard rush by Logan Inagawa brought the Bulldogs down to the six-yard line. Inagawa eventually punched in a three-yard rushing touchdown. After a successful two-point conversion, Drake trailed 28-18.
To start off the next Jackrabbit drive, freshman Corey Blaire Jr. was handed the ball and gained 42 yards on his first career carry. SDSU’s drive eventually stalled and Eli Stader missed a 38-yard field goal attempt.
Drake took over but gave the ball right back as Logan Inagawa was intercepted on the first play of the drive by safety Noah Thompson, who got his first career interception.
The Jacks took over from the Drake 35-yard line. The Jacks managed to get one first down on the drive before they brought out kicker Ryan Harrington, who hit a 39-yard field goal to make the score 31-18.
After a Drake punt Jack Smith caught a 20-yard Chase Mason pass on second and 19. The next play, Mason delivered another big gain with an 18-yard completion to Lofton O’Groske, which put the Jacks at the 20-yard line. Freshman Corey Blaire Jr. continued his breakout game by punching in a 5-yard touchdown run and after a failed two-point attempt the Jacks led 37-18.
After a garbage-time field goal by Drake, SDSU came out victorious with a 37-21 win.
The Jackrabbits have a by week before they host Mercyhurst on Sept. 27 at Dana J. Dykehouse Stadium.
