Nov. 10, 2007
Final Stats
The University of Dayton Flyers earned a share of the 2007 Pioneer Football League Championship Saturday when they defeated a determined Drake team 34-27 at Drake Stadium in Des Moines, Iowa. UD senior quarterback Kevin Hoyng completed 33 of 43 passes for 360 yards and three touchdowns, and was the game's leading rusher with 93 yards on 22 carries.
Dayton tied San Diego, who won at Morehead State 27-14, for first place in the PFL. USD's win makes the Flyers the PFL representative (via head-to-head tiebreaker) in the "Gridiron Classic" bowl game against the champion of the Northeast Conference. UD will host that game on Saturday, December 1 at 1:00 p.m. at Welcome Stadium. The NEC champion will be determined next week on Saturday, November 17 when first-place Albany plays at second-place Central Connecticut State.
Flyer wideout Jack O'Dell broke the school single-game record for passes caught in a game with 14 for 79 yards. The old record of ten was held by four players, and was matched Saturday at Drake by Nick Ruhe, who had ten catches for 163 yards.
Running back Ben Shappie, wideout Mark Fuerst and tight end Matt Champa were the recipients of Hoyng's touchdown passes, and Shappie added an 11-yard TD run. The TD catch was the first of Fuerst's career. Nick Glavin was four-for-four in PAT's and two-for-two in field goals.
The Dayton defense was led by nickelback Steve McDonald's eight tackles. Safety Brandon Cramer led in solo hits (6) and was second in overall tackles (7). Joe Castaneda and Corey Vossler each had interceptions, and Castaneda also broke up two passes.
Drake had the first scoring threat on its second possession, but Castaneda's interception in the end zone swung the momentum Dayton's way. And the Flyers capitalized, scoring TD's on drives of 70 and 75 yards to give UD a 14-0 lead after one quarter. Drake got on the board to cut the margin in half, but Shappie's rushing TD pushed UD back out 21-7. Just before halftime, the Bulldogs scored and took some mojo into the locker room by scoring with 36 seconds left in the period.
Dayton took the second-half kickoff and moved 55 yards for the first of Glavin's field goals to make the score 24-14. Drake responded by driving 68 yards (43 on the very first play) for the touchdown that made the score 24-21. The two teams traded punts, and then UD came up with a critical 10-play, 94-yard TD drive. Hoyng was seven-for-seven passing on the long march, which ended when he hit Champa on three-yarder.
The two teams traded turnovers, and then the Flyers forced a Drake punt. Dayton moved the ball 70 yards in a drive that resulted in Glavin's second field goal, but more importantly, kept the ball for seven minutes and 39 seconds. But down 13 with 3:33 to play, Drake responded. The `Dogs scored a touchdown, but a bad snap on the PAT kept UD ahead 34-27 with 2:49 left in the game. Drake onside kick attempt went out of bounds, and Dayton was able to run out the clock, but it was anything but routine. On third-and-10 at the Drake 49, Hoyng had nine-yard run, after Drake's final timeout with 1:51 left, a quarterback sneak on fourth down to clinch the satisfying win.
After the suffering through program's first losing season in 30 years last year, the Flyers were back on top of the PFL when the clock hit zero. In the 15-year history of the league, Dayton has nine PFL championships, while the rest of the league has ten combined (including ties).
