Davidson pulls away in second half, beats Drake 48-14

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Luke Durkin threw two touchdown passes, Mark McCurdy and Bernard Turner Jr. had long scoring runs and Davidson pulled away in the second half to beat Drake 48-14 on Saturday.

McCurdy scored on a 48-yard run midway through the first quarter to give Davidson (6-2, 4-1 Pioneer Football League) a 7-0 lead. Ian Corwin answered for Drake (0-8, 0-5) with a 5-yard touchdown toss to Eli Stewart to forge a 7-7 tie.

The Wildcats took the lead for good in the second quarter on Durkin’s 7-yard touchdown pass to Aaron Maione and Turner’s 62-yard scoring run. Blake Ellingson connected with Trey Radocha for a 7-yard score late in the quarter to get the Bulldogs within 21-14 at halftime.

Durkin’s 9-yard touchdown pass to McCurdy was the only score of the third quarter.

Turner scored on a 3-yard run with 13:25 left in the game to push the lead to 35-14. Freshman backup quarterback Coulter Cleland followed with scoring strikes to Trey Messer and Christian Berry for 10 and 52 yards, respectively, on the first two collegiate passes of his career.

Durkin completed 6 of 8 passes for 89 yards for Davidson, while Cleland was 3-for-3 passing for 66 yards. Dylan Sparks carried 15 times for 80 of the Wildcats’ 355 yards on the ground.

Ellingson completed 9 of 15 passes for 103 yards with an interception for Drake. Corwin and Luke Bailey combined to complete 8 of 20 passes for 49 yards as the Bulldogs used three QBs and managed just 233 yards of offense.

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