Box Score BUIES CREEK, N.C.. - Campbell's football team (2-4, 1-2 Pioneer Football League) lost another close home game on Saturday, Oct. 16, at Barker-Lane Stadium. The Camels lost a tough-fought 14-12 game to Drake (4-3, 3-1 PFL) that once again came down to the final possession. The loss was the third consecutive home game dropped by Campbell, but only by combined deficit of just six points (27-28, 21-24 & 12-14).
The Camels were facing an eight-point deficit, 14-6, when the team took over on its own 40-yard line with just 4:40 remaining in the game. Redshirt senior Daniel Polk promptly completed passes to redshirt junior C.J. Oates and junior Paul Constantine to gain a total of 17 yards and get the potential game-tying drive going. Oates then ran for another eight and redshirt junior Carl Smith sprinted for an 11-yard gain to move the ball to the Drake 35. Another completed pass to Smith for seven yards and a Mike Stryffeler reception brought the ball to the Drake 14. A penalty momentarily stalled the drive before Polk completed his fifth pass of the drive, this one to redshirt junior Alex Royal, to put Campbell on the Drake 10 with less than a minute remaining in the game. Polk then took it upon himself and ran it in from 10-yard out to put Campbell within two with just 17 second remaining in the game. Needing a two-point conversion to tie the game, Polk faked a run and then tried a jump pass to Stryffeler in the back of the end zone. The ball was overthrown slightly over Stryffeler's hands and allowed Drake to escape with the two-point victory.
Polk completed a career-high 18 passes in the loss. The redshirt senior combined to gain 173 yards in total offense (125 pass and 48 rushing). Stryffeler was able to haul in a career-high six catches for 33 yards. CU's Lee Stanley totaled 10 tackles to lead the defense. Drake was led by Drew Blackmon's 122 receiving yards, including the eventual game-winner reception in the fourth quarter. DU's Seth Hedman ended his day with 13 tackles. Drake's Dain Taylor had four tackles for loss and two sacks. Drake held a slight edge in total yards (310 to 279), but Campbell did run for 154 yards on 40 attempts in the loss.
The Camels broke through first with 14:49 remaining in the second quarter on junior Adam Willets' 20-yard field goal. The field goal gave Campbell a 3-0 lead and ended a 12 play, 77 yard drive that covered 4:44 in game time.
Drake answered with a fourth-down touchdown with 2:23 remaining in the first half on a two-yard plunge by Pat Cashmore. The drive covered 15 plays, 89 yards and 6:09 to allow Drake to take the 7-3 lead.
The Camels put together a great-point scoring drive at the end of the half. The team effective used the two-minute drill to get into field goal range where Willets knocked in a 38-yard field goal to cut the margin to one going into the break. The Campbell drive covered 10 plays, 62 yards and 2:05.
The third quarter was a scoreless affair with both defenses playing well. The Camels had a scoring chance midway through the fourth quarter, but Willets' 40-yard kick was wide left and short.
Drake scored an insurance touchdown on the ensuing drive on Mike Piatkowski's 42-yard throw to Blackmon. The Billy Janssen kick was good to put the Bulldogs up 14-6 with 4:40 remaining in the game. The drive covered eight plays and 77 yards.
Campbell will now travel to Dayton, Ohio to take on the Flyers in a Pioneer Football League on Saturday, Oct. 23, at 1 p.m.
Coach Steele Quotes
What did you feel was different in this game than the first two meetings with Drake?
This is a different football team this year than in the past. I told our players that we're a good football team and I can't understand the breaks that have been happening to us. We are a good football team and if we keep knocking on the door we're going to break through and get one of these close victories.
Thoughts on the defense:
Our defensive kids have made great improvements; it doesn't even look like the same defense that played in the first three games. My hat is off to the coaches to what they have done and what the players have done to become a great defense. I can't say enough about Milton Brown, Lee Stanley, Randall Herring, Jared Hart, Christian Dixon, and the others who I didn't name.
Thoughts on the offense:
We lost Rashaun Brown on the first drive, and that had an effect on the rest of the game and what we were able to do. It was a tooth and nail game and I told our offensive line that it was going to be a war out there and it was for all four quarters. I told them if they just kept fighting that we would find things that we could do. Our offensive coaches found a few things that we could do and I'm proud of our guys for the effort today against a good Drake defense.
Talk about the two-point play call after the final touchdown:
Well it was something that we practiced and had in our arsenal for a while, and we just needed to execute it and we just didn't. We're going to go back to the drawing board and work on executing our plays better.
Final thoughts:
I hope everybody will understand that this is a good football team and I want to beg all the Campbell fans to come out and support these kids. They play their hearts out, work so hard, and are proud to be a part of Campbell football. They deserve for this place to be filled on Homecoming and I want all our fans to be the 12th man for us.
