UD hammers Valpo at Welcome

The University of Dayton football team gained 631 yards on offense, and turned in its first shutout of the season on defense, as the Flyers rolled over Valparaiso 45-0 in front of a Parent's Weekend Crowd of 5,077 Saturday at Welcome Stadium.  The offensive outburst matched Dayton's best as a non-scholarship team.  UD previously had 631 on Sept. 7, 1991 against Urbana as an NCAA Division III team.

 

Redshirt senior running back Dan Jacob led a quartet of Dayton runners who had at least 70 yards on the ground.  Jacob carried the ball 10 times for a career-high 155 yards and two TD's.  Right behind was redshirt freshman Connor Kacsor, who had his third straight 100-yard game with 124 yards and two touchdowns on nine attempts.  Kacsor is the first Dayton freshman to have three 100-yards games in a season.  Robert Washington also had two scoring runs among his seven-carry, 75-yard day and Grant Huckestein gained 72 yards on 14 plays.

 

The Flyers averaged 10.1 yards per carry on the day.

 

Quarterback Will Bardo was 15 of 23 passing for 158 yards.  Colin McManamon was the game’s leading receiver with four catches for 65 yards. 

 

Senior Flyer Joe Janasek had a career-high 14 tackles to lead the Flyers.  The Dayton defense did not allow Valparaiso into Dayton territory until the three-minute mark of the third quarter.  The Crusaders' deepest penetration into UD territory was the 38-yard line.  Thirteen Flyers had at least three tackles on the day.   Linebacker Colin Monnier, safety Matt Bianco and tackle Austen Alber each had six hits.

 

Ben Welsh came up with UD's only turnover, a first-quarter interception that he returned 32 yards to set up a Pat Sankovic field goal in the first quarter.  Janasek and Ryan Aske each batted away a pair of passes.

 

Dayton led 10-0 after one quarter, and put the game away with a dominant second quarter.  The Flyers scored 21 points with 218 yards on offense, while holding Valparaiso to minus 13 yards

 

Dayton has now won three straight games and is 4-4 on the season.  The Flyers also improved to 3-2 in the Pioneer Football League.  Valparaiso falls to 0-7, and 0-4 in the PFL.

 

The Flyers will travel west next week to meet San Diego.  The Toreros are 4-3 overall and 3-1 in the PFL.  Game time is 9:00 p.m. ET.