The Drakes got on the board with 3:12 left in the first quarter on an 18 yard run by Merrill and a two-point conversion pass from Evan Billinski to Quinn McKeeman, taking an 8-0 lead.  Hillcrest responded by going 60 yards in four plays with Zayne Weinrich hauling in a 35-yard touchdown pass from Caden Fischer with 1:17 left in the opening quarter.  Abram Ness added the PAT kick to cut the lead to 8-7.  Blackduck scored as time ran out in the first quarter when McKeeman scored on an 8 yard run and the Drakes led 14-7.

Merrill’s 25 yard TD run with 5:30 left in the half increased the Drakes lead to 20-7 and they built that lead to 28-7 when Carson Nendick hauled in a 17 yard pass from Billinski on fourth-and-fifteen with under one second left in the half.  McKeeman ran in the two-point conversion to end the half.

Blackduck received the second half kickoff and went 72 yards in four plays with Merrill breaking free for a 58 yard touchdown run to up the lead to 34-7.  A Fischer pass to Evan Lindgren covered 22 yards and Ness tacked on the extra point kick to cut the lead to 34-14 with 9:36 left in the third quarter.  Jastyn Rodgers scored on a 3-yard run and McKeeman hauled in a two-point conversion pass as the Drakes took the lead to 42-14 with 7:41 remaining.  Their final touchdown came with just under fourteen seconds to go in the quarter when Bryce Frenzel ran the ball into the end zone from the 8 yard line, putting a final score of 48-14 on the scoreboard.

The Comets were led by Caden Fischer (14-24 passing, 222 yards, 2TDs) and Zayne Weinrich (5 receptions, 122 yards, TD).  Zeke Ihrke hauled in 3 passes for 39 yards.  The Comets were held to 11 yards rushing and had 233 yards of offense in the game.

Blackduck improved to 3-1 with the win.  The game is the only varsity game on the Hillcrest schedule this fall.