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The University of Dayton Flyers scored 35 unanswered points en route to a 48-14 win over the Valparaiso Crusaders Saturday at Welcome Stadium.  Dayton improved to 4-1 overall and 2-0 in the Pioneer Football League, keeping the Flyers in a first-place tie with Jacksonville and Drake.

UD scored first when Taylor Harris scored on a 19-yard run just under six minutes in the game.  Valparaiso tied it on the next possession when Nate Goergen hit Sean McCarty over the top for a 58-yard TD.  The Flyers scored the next 35 points, beginning with freshman Gary Hunter’s 82-yard kickoff return for a TD.

It was the first kickoff return for a touchdown by a Dayton freshman in the school’s ‘modern era” (since 1920) and in all probability in school history.  It was also the first by a UD player since Brad Thobe picked up an onside kick and returned it 43 yards against San Diego in 1998. 

UD added another touchdown in the second quarter when Steve Valentino guided a 12-play, 66-yard drive that ended when he scored on a sneak from the one, making the score 21-7 at halftime.

Harris scored from five yards and one yard out to make the score 35-7 after three quarters and Andrew Zapinski scored twice around the Crusaders’ second TD of the day.  Zapinski scored first on a two-yard plunge with 10:50 to go in the game.  Two plays after a one-yard Bobby Wysocki TD run for Valpo, Zapinski went 69 yards for the final score of the day.

Zapinski was the game’s top rusher, gaining 82 yards on four carries.  Harris had 60 yards on just eight carries to go with his three TD’s, and Valentino also had 60 yards on 12 attempts on the ground.  Through the air, he was 14 of 25 for 166 yards.  Tyler Hujik caught five of those passes for 41 yards.  Justin Watkins added four for 53 yards and Luke Bellman had four for 32.

Hujik also had four punt returns for 55 yards (13.7 avg.).  Hunter returned a total of three kickoffs for 123 yards (41.0 avg.) and the touchdown.

Even with an offensive possession “taken away” by Hunter’s TD return, UD outgained Valparaiso 443-200.  The Dayton defense allowed just 33 net rushing yards, and sacked VU quarterbacks six times in the game.  James Vercammen led the Flyers with 12 tackles, including a sack, a fumble recovery and 2.5 tackles behind the line.  Mike Morante had 2.5 sacks, and Devon Langhorst added 2.0.

Dayton goes on the road for the next two Saturdays.  Dayton is at San Diego on October 9.  Game time is 5:00 p.m. ET.