Saturday, October 19, 2013
by Cody Bush, PFL Media Relations

Butler sits alone atop the PFL standings at the halfway point, downing Drake to improve to 4-0 in league play. Four teams sit one-game back at 3-1 as Dayton, Morehead State and Marist each winning to move up to the mark while San Diego's loss at Dayton dropped it to the 3-1 mark. Jacksonville picked up a road win in PFL play while Mercer won a non-conference home outing.

PFL SCORES
Butler def. Drake, 24-14
Jacksonville def. Campbell, 52-45
Marist def. Davidson, 42-14
Mercer def. Carnegie Mellon, 54-21
Morehead State def. Valparaiso, 42-28
Dayton def. San Diego, 45-38 (2OT)

LEAGUE RECAPS

BUTLER def. DRAKE, 24-14
INDIANAPOLIS, IND. – Butler's Wade Markley answered the biggest call of his collegiate career and helped lead Butler to a 24-14 victory over Drake in a key Pioneer Football League game at the Butler Bowl, Saturday. The win, Butler's first over Drake since 2009, kept the host Bulldogs on top of the PFL standings.

Markley was given his first start of the season, replacing injured PFL Offensive Player of the Year Matt Lancaster. The senior signal caller responded by passing for a career-high 253 yards and one touchdown and rushing for a second score. He had a career-best 27 completions and a career-high 44 attempts with no pass interceptions.

Butler ran 20 more offensive plays than Drake to control the line of scrimmage and clock while its defense limited Drake  to just one offensive touchdown. Sophomore Eric Saubert  was the Drake offense’s most consistent weapon on the day with a career-high 108 receiving yards on eight catches from quarterback Andy Rice, who was 27-of-47 passing for a career-high 330 yards and a touchdown.

MORE>> Butler Recap | Drake Recap | Box Score

JACKSONVILLE def. CAMPBELL, 52-45
BUIES CREEK, N.C. — Kade Bell returned under center for Jacksonville and the Dolphins returned to their winning ways. After missing the past three games with an appendectomy, Bell threw four touchdown passes and 251 yards to lead the JU football team to a 52-45 win over Campbell at Barker-Lane Stadium.

The Dolphins held a 28-24 lead at halftime before they pulled away in the second half with 24 unanswered points capped off by a 32 yard strike by Bell to D’Andre Randle.

The touchdown reception gave JU a 52-31 lead with five minutes to go in the third quarter, but wasn’t the only big play of the day from Randle. Two possessions earlier the sophomore wideout took an end-around and went 84 yards for a game breaking score.

However. in the fourth quarter running back Kurt Odom would keep Campbell in the game. First he hauled in a 30 yard score on a wide receiver pass then took another short pass and broke it for a 50 yard score with two minutes left to play.

The ensuing onside kick attempt was touched before traveling the full ten yards giving possession to JU. The Dolphins were not out of the woods yet however. Facing a key third and two with one minute remaining, Head Coach Kerwin Bell called on freshman running back Ulysses Bryant who delivered with a 15 yard run to seal the win. Bryant finished with a team high 120 yards on 17 carries.

Campbell quarterback Brian Hudson ran for 110 yards on 22 carries and threw for 227 and a score while completing 14-of-29 passes, but was sacked five times. Kurt Odom hauled in four passes for 117 yards and two scores, while Jabri Ridenhour caught three balls for 96 yards.

MORE>> Jacksonville Recap | Campbell Recap | Box Score

MARIST def. DAVIDSON, 42-14
DAVIDSON, N.C. – The Marist football team scored 21 fourth-quarter points to earn a 42-14 victory at Davidson in a Pioneer Football League contest on Saturday.

After Davidson took an 8-3 first-quarter lead, Emmanuel Onakoya’s 14-yard touchdown run with 2:54 left in the first quarter gave Marist the lead for good. Atiq Lucas’ one-yard touchdown plunge with 5:52 left in the second quarter gave the Red Foxes a 15-8 lead. Onakoya then burst through the middle for a 41-yard touchdown run, which put Marist up 21-8 with 11:35 left in the third quarter.

In a balanced effort, the Red Foxes amassed 490 yards of total offense and held Davidson to 300. Marist had 283 passing yards and 207 rushing yards, and forced four Davidson turnovers.

Wide receiver Bartley Leneghan had 163 yards receiving on four receptions and a touchdown. Lucas ran for 131 yards on 20 carries and a touchdown. Onakoya ran for 78 yards on six carries and two touchdowns, which came on his first two carries of the game. Quarterback Chuckie Looney completed 11 of 22 passes for 283 yards and two touchdowns. The Red Foxes had five offensive players of 30 yards or more.

Davidson's Jeff McDaniels enjoyed another career day, setting career highs with eight catches for 87 yards and also scoring the first two touchdowns of his career. William Morris also set a career high with 11 receptions and totaled 87 yards. A trio of quarterbacks were utilized as Jonathan Carkhuff completed 14 of 23 passing attempts for 130 yards and a touchdown with one interception, Douglas went 8-for-13 with his first Davidson passing touchdown and two interceptions, while John Cook went 3-for-5 for 19 yards in an option package.

MORE>> Marist Recap | Davidson Recap | Box Score

MERCER def. CARNEGIE MELLON, 54-21
MACON, Ga. – In its final non-conference test of the regular season, the Mercer University football team scored on all six of its first-half possessions and raced past Carnegie Mellon 54-21 Saturday afternoon at Mercer University Stadium.

Payton Usher set the tone for Mercer's dominant first half in the opening drive when the redshirt freshman broke free for a 52-yard touchdown run to give the Bears an early 7-0 lead. Mercer marched right down the field on its next possession and John Russ capped the drive with a 5-yard touchdown run to double the lead and make it 14-0 and Mercer never looked back.

Russ ended the contest 7-for-13 for 126 yards and two passing touchdowns, while Usher paced the run game once again with 115 yards and one score. Palmer's five catches marked a career high, while his two touchdown receptions were the most since the season opener against Reinhardt.

MORE>> Mercer Recap | Box Score

MOREHEAD STATE def. VALPARAISO, 42-28
VALPARAISO, Ind. — Quarterback Austin Gahafer completed 41-of-52 attempts for a career-high 458 yards, and the Morehead State football team scored 23 unanswered points in the second half to post a 42-28 victory over Pioneer Football League foe Valparaiso on Saturday afternoon at Brown Field.

Valparaiso turned a pair of early turnovers into scores and led 14-0 just nine minutes into the contest, but Morehead State registered 42 of the game's final 56 points to notch the road win.  The Eagles went on a 23-0 run in the second half after trailing 28-19 at intermission.

Eagles slot receiver Jake Raymond posted career highs and MSU season bests for catches (12) and receiving yards (133).  Wide receiver Kitaro Lewis added eight catches for 90 yards, while Brandon Reeves rolled up 73 rushing yards on just four attempts.

Valparaiso's Eric Hoffman compiled a 29 of 48 day passing for 326 yards and three touchdowns. Patrick Derbak had a banner day for the Crusader defense as the linebacker led all players in tackles with 15 with a fumble forced and an interception.

MORE>> Morehead State Recap | Valparaiso Recap | Box Score

DAYTON def. SAN DIEGO, 45-38 (2OT)
DAYTON, Ohio —  Dayton's Mitch Yinger knocked down a fourth-down pass by record-setting quarterback Mason Mills to end the second overtime and Dayton ended San Diego's nine-game Pioneer Football League winning streak 45-38 Saturday night at Welcome Stadium.

Will Bardo, who threw a nine-yard touchdown pass to Gabe Macis with 27 seconds left in regulation, scored on a 1-yard plunge for the Flyers in the second overtime. Macis had 112 yards and two touchdowns.

Mills, who had five touchdown passes and became the all-time passing yardage leader (9,977) for the Toreros, had three straight incompletions from the six-yard line. He had a 25-yard touchdown to Reggie Ball on the first play of the first overtime period.

Bardo threw for 225 yards and two touchdowns and rushed for 136 yards and two more. Connor Kacsor ran for 125 yards and two scores, including a five-yarder in the first overtime.

MORE>> Dayton Recap | San Diego Recap | Box Score