THE DRAKE FOOTBALL TEAM beat Campbell at home Saturday en route to an 8-1 overall record. Photo: Tiffany Krause

Seven different Bulldogs scored touchdowns Saturday, as Drake trounced Campbell 49-6 to stay perfect this sea­son in Pioneer Football League play and extend its win­ning streak to six games.

The victory brings the Bulldogs to 8-1 on the season – their best record through nine games in school history. They also remain tied atop the PFL standings with Butler at 6-0.

“You’re never as good as you think, and never as bad as you think before you watch the film,” Head Coach Chris Creighton said. “But it was a pretty good, well-rounded performance. We played well in all three phases of the game.” Drake held the Camels to just 202 yards of total offense, but racked up 422 yards on the other side of the ball with over 200 yards rush­ing.

The Bulldogs got on the scoreboard first when sophomore quarterback Mike Piatkowski hit senior tight end Frank Pucher for an eight-yard touchdown. The score capped a 13-play, 83-yard touchdown drive that took just four mintues, 43 seconds.

Despite being a quick touchdown drive, it was Drake’s lengthiest touchdown drive of the game. The Bulldogs needed less than three min­utes to score in five of their seven touchdown drives.

Drake did not slow down on offense the rest of the day. After getting the ball back after a Campbell three-and-out, Piatkowski threw his second touch­down pass of the game, to freshman re­ceiver Joey Or­lando.

Piatkowski had one of his best games of his collegiate career, com­pleting 21 of 26 passes for two touch­downs and no interceptions.

“Mike has had a really good first year,” Creighton said. “He’s never been rattled. You can’t tell he’s a first-year player. He’s got great poise. He understands football and he’s fun to coach.”

Drake tacked on another touchdown in the second quarter when senior wide receiver Spen­cer Cady ran one in, from two yards out, to put the Bulldogs up by three scores. Campbell scored late in the quarter to get on the scoreboard, but a blocked extra point gave Drake a 21-6 lead at halftime.

After guiding Drake to an early lead, Piatkowski deferred to the running game in the second half. Four different Bulldogs found the end zone in the half, as Drake wore down the Camel defense.

“The key to the running game was getting to the outside on the edge,” sophomore wide receiver Hans Broman said.

FRESHMAN RUNNING BACK TREY MORSE carries the ball toward a Campbell defender during the Bulldogs’ 49-6 win over the Camels on Saturday. Morse finished the game with 108 yards on 13 carries. Photo: Tiffany Krause

Broman ran the ball eight times for 56 yards and a third-quarter touchdown that gave Drake a 35-6 lead.

Junior running backs Patrick Cashmore and Tom Kostek each added rushing touchdowns of their own, to seal the win for the Bulldogs.

Perhaps the most impressive performance of the game was from freshman running back Trey Morse. Despite running for just 163 yards through the team’s first eight games, Morse had a career day with 100 yards on 13 carries, in­cluding a 34-yard touchdown.

After Butler beat Dayton Saturday, Drake is tied with Butler atop the PFL, with just two games remaining. Drake takes on Dayton next week at home and then will travel to Butler for the season finale.

“We have a very tough stretch coming up,” Creighton said. “We’ve had really tough stretch­es already. Nothing’s been easy all year. We’ve had to battle all year.”

Drake would likely have to win the rest of its games to win the conference, but has a strong chance to do so thanks to a suddenly explosive offense and a defense that has held four oppo­nents under 10 points this year.

“We’re pumped up,” Broman said. “We’ve been riding this winning streak for a while. We’re all confident that we can take home the championship.”