2014 Heart of Dallas Bowl Recap

Our own Omie D with the Heart of Dallas game trophy.

A slippery start for the Heart of Dallas Bowl  featuring the Louisiana Tech Bulldogs versus the Illinois Fighting Illini. 

By: Omie D

Kyle Fischer slipped on the initial Kick-Off by La Tech, but the Illini offense lost 20 yards on their first drive of the day giving the Dogs momentum.  The Illini started the 1st quarter out with  Kenneth Dixon earned the title of All-Time leading rusher for Louisiana Tech on their 2nd drive with a big 28 yd run. 

 Their 2nd drive was capped off by a tackle breaking 16 yard run by Jarred Craft with the Bulldogs in the Red Zone for the first time.  The Illini came out on their next drive with a little Trickery with a reverse  to #18 Mike Dudekfor a big 50 yard gain and their first 1st down. A huge 11 yard tackle by #94 Houston Bates put the Illini in a 2nd and 19.  

A solid defensive effort from Louisiana Tech kept Illinois to a 27 yard field goal by Zalewski.  The Bulldogs decided to take only 12 yards with a pass from Cody Sokol to Kenneth Dixon for 8o yards.  This was also the shortest drive in Heart of Dallas Bowl History, Kenneth Dixon Your name is Christmas.  The first quarter closed out with the Illini making it to the the 36 yard line. 14-3 favor of the Dogs.

Zalewski missed a field goal to start off the 2nd quarter for the Illini, but the Dogs had to punt the ball back.  Malik Davis come through for the Illini with a huge 17 yard gain to get them within the 30 yard line.Riley O'Toole connected with #3 Jon Davis on a 25 yard score to put the Illini back in the game at 14-9 with the extra point bouncing off the upright into Midfield.  

With 7:20 left in the 2nd quarter Xavier Woods made his 2nd interception for a TD to put the Dogs ahead 21-9. Riley O' Toole came out after the turnover and immediately started airing it out.  Hitting 3 different receivers before being stalled out on the 35 yard line of La Tech. 

Bryson Abraham made a great defensive effort on 3rd down to keep the Illini out of the end zone.  1:08 Illinois left another 3 points on the field with a missed 38 yard field goal by #38 David Reisner to close the the Half 21-9 La Tech.

The 3rd quarter started off as most bowl games with a lot of back and forth action.  Both teams made adjustments.  I spoke to a Coach from La Tech about the pressure the Defensive Line was getting on O'Toole.  He said  #4 might need an extra Flack jacket. 

O'Toole ignored the pressure and continued to spread the ball around hitting 3 different receivers on their 2nd drive.  After making it to the red zone on a 19 yard catch by Geronimo Allison.  Donovan Young makes a nice 6 yard run around the right side of their line for 6 points. Illinois misses the two point conversion leaving the score 21-12 in favor of La Tech.  

The Bulldogs could not put together a sustained drive, missing a 44 yard field goal with less than 2 min remaining in the 3rd Quarter.  The Illini offense began to take advantage of that aggressive Bulldog defense with some screens to get them down to the 23 yard line to close the  3rd Quarter 21-15, La Tech leading at the time.

A 43 yard attempt by the 2nd Kicker from Illinois #38 David Reisner to bring the Illini within 3 of a bowl game victory. Cody Sokol the La Tech QB was kept very quiet in this game with his biggest pass of the day coming in the 1st Quarter to Dixon.  

La Tech fumbled the ball on their own 35 and it was picked up by Jihad Ward, but fumbled the ball back to the hands of La Tech on the 15. The Bulldogs continued to shoot themselves in the foot, but was pulled out of the hole by Hunter Lee for a first Down. 

Cody Sokol found  Carlos Henderson alone down the sideline for a huge 70 yard gain to take the dogs to the five yard line.  Dixon found the end-zone to add on six plus the extra point.It was 28-18 Louisiana tech lead with 6:15 left. 

It made him the All- Time leader in points with 365 points and lead the nation in Touchdowns.  This young man's draft stock just hit the Upper Deck. The Bulldogs managed to grab one more rushing Touchdown on a 28 yard run by Blake Martin.

Kenneth Dixon told reporters that He will stay and finish his Senior year at La Tech.  Houston Bates was awarded the MVP of the game with 4.5 sacks.  The Illini put up a great effort in the 2nd half to make this a ball game, but the tenacity of the Bulldogs defense was just too much.