Oct. 23, 2004

The University of Dayton football team recovered from a rocky first-quarter start Saturday afternoon to rout Butler University, 49-10, in a Pioneer Football League game at Welcome Stadium. Dayton wideout Ryan Wrobleski caught six passes for 118 yards and a touchdown while 14 different Flyers racked up 345 yards on the ground.

UD (7-1, 2-0) marched downfield on its first possession and was in sure scoring position at the two when junior QB Brandon Staley fumbled into the end zone. Butler's Buck Ullery scooped up the loose ball and ran 86 yards to the 14. The Flyer defense came up with a huge goal-line stand as Chris Dearth and Kevin McCoy took down Dale Murzyn for a loss of eight yards on fourth-and-goal at the 1.

If the 86-yard fumble return didn't stun the 6,045 Flyer Faithful in attendance on Parent's Weekend, the following possession did as UD turned the ball over again. Staley had his pass picked off on the sideline by Mike Seidl, who returned it 21 yards to give the Bulldogs good field position at the UD 31.

The defense again held and Butler had to settle for a 23-yard field goal from Eric Neumeier to take the 3-0 lead.

Dayton answered with a two-play, 51-yard drive. Quarterback Kevin Hoyng took the helm and called his own number for a 15-yard first down with a personal foul late hit out-of-bounds tacked on to cover the first 30 yards. On the next snap, Hoyng handed off to Matt Mong who broke free for a 21-yard touchdown run.

After a three-and-out by BU, Hoyng guided the Flyers 46 yards to paydirt, capped by a four-yard TD run to put UD up 14-3.

The defense held Butler again and the Flyers began to pull away as Staley returned for his next two series at quarterback. Wrobleski caught two passes on the 55-yard drive, including a 30-yard touchdown grab for a 21-3 lead. Dayton pushed the lead to 28-3 headed into halftime as a 40-yard grab by Wrobleski set up a one-yard TD plunge by Matt Mong with 32 seconds before halftime.

At the half, UD had 279 yards in total offense, while holding Butler to 36.

The Flyers held Butler on the first drive of the second half and drove 60 yards in seven plays, capped by Hoyng's three-yard play-action pass to Matt Marshall for the score.

Marshall's second touchdown came on a four-yard carry 8:57 later to cap a 12-play, 63-yard drive that took 6:03 off the clock in the third quarter and put Dayton up top 42-3.

The Bulldogs responded with their best drive of the day, an 88-yard march that almost equaled their total yardage to that point. BU quarterback Ian Nelson rushed for 25 yards on the drive and moved 34 more through the air, including a six-yard touchdown pass to Billy Nardini.

The Flyers ran out much of the clock with an 80-yard drive over the next eight minutes. Brandon Godsey gained 38 of the 80 yards on the ground with Tim Watson picking up another 37 yards rushing, including the seven-yard TD run that made it 49-10, Dayton.

On the day, Dayton gained 345 yards rushing on 64 carries while holding Butler to just 52 on 36 attempts. The Flyers owned a 492-154 edge in total offense, holding Butler to 3.0 yards per play.

Steve Verhoff finished with 84 yards rushing on 16 carries, most coming in the first two drives for the Flyers. Staley finished with 48 while Mong added 49. Godsey (38), Hoyng (37) and Watson (34) also finished above 30-yards for UD.

Both UD's regular quarterbacks, Hoyng and Staley, were four-of-five passing with a touchdown. Staley totaled 88 yards through the air while Hoyng passed for 59.

Dayton, the nation's top-ranked team in the NCAA Division I-AA Mid-Major rankings, remains home for the biggest game of the season. Drake, the PFL North Division's first-place team at 3-0 in league play, comes to town. The Bulldogs will be shooting for a win that will clinch the division title. A Dayton win would keep the Flyers' title hopes alive (along with San Diego's) going into the regular season finale at USD on November 6.

Whoever wins the PFL North will play at Morehead State on Saturday, November 20. Morehead earned its third straight trip to the PFL Championship game with a 28-14 win over Jacksonville Saturday.