Moon Township, Pa. – Dayton defeated Robert Morris by a score of 34-31 on Saturday afternoon to open the season with a 2-0 record for the first time since the 2016 season. Robert Morris falls to 0-3 on the year following the loss. Both of Dayton's wins have come on the road and against scholarship opponents.
 
GAME RECAP
1ST QUARTER
•    Robert Morris took the opening kickoff and drovec85 yards in 13 plays to take a 7-0 lead. Quarterback George Martin III ran it in from the three.
•    The Flyers answered with a touchdown drive of their own, going 75 yards in nine plays, tying the score on a Ryan Skibinski two-yard run.
2ND QUARTER
•    Dayton's next possession extended two plays into the second quarter and also ended in a scoring drive.  UD needed six plays to go 71 yards, with Jack Cook scoring on a quarterback sneak from the one.
•    RMU made it a 14-10 game with 11:03 left in the half on a 23-yard field goal.
•    Flyer freshman Sam Webster nailed a 53-yard field goal to give UD a 17-10 advantage.
•    Robert Morris tied the score 17-17 with 4:13 to go, Martin threw a two-yard scoring pass.
•    A Webster 23-yard field goal with 25 seconds remaining made the halftime score Dayton 20, Robert Morris 17.
3RD QUARTER
•    After more than 600 yards total offense in the first half, their third quarter began with a Dayton fumble, an RMU missed field goal and two punts.
•    Dayton got back on the scoreboard with a 56-yard-seven play drive.  Cook hit Adam Trautman from the four for the score.
•    Robert Morris answered on its next possession with a five-play, 75-yuard drive to make the scored after three quarters Dayton 27, RMU 24.
4TH QUARTER
•    The Dayton defense made two big plays in the second half.  After UD punted the ball back to RMU, defensive tackle Mike Stodola stripped the ball from the Colonial runner and Sam Broom recovered the fumble to give the Flyers a short field.
•    Two plays later, Cook his Skibinski for a 20-yard touchdown to put Dayton up 34-24.
•    Robert Morris answered with a 75-yard drive.  The 12th play of the drive was Martin's second TD pass of the day.
•    Dayton got the ball back with 6:28 left leading 34-31, and had all intent to run out the clock.  Three straight running plays netted a first down, but also resulted in a Sean Prophit fumble on a tremendous hit. 
•    RMU had the ball in Dayton territory with 5:16 left.  The Colonials had 1st-and-10 at the 22, the Dayton defense rose up on the next four plays.   After Martin was flushed out of the pocket by Nate Obringer, he threw the ball away for an incomplete pass.  On second down, Robert Morris completed a screen pass for negative yardage (the receiver fell making a cut around a UD defender).  On third down, Obringer sacked Martin for a loss of nine, taking RMU out of range for a potential game-tying field goal.  And then on fourth down, Tim Simon sealed the win with an interception and 64-yard return, giving UD the ball at the RMU 21 with 2:08 left in the game.
•    Dayton ran the ball for one first down, forced Robert Morris to use its timeouts and got back on the bus for a hard-fought 34-31 win.


KEY STATS

• Jack Cook threw for two passing touchdowns for the second straight week and finished the game 13-of-26 with 238 yards, while also adding 32 yards and an additional touchdown on the ground.
• Sean Prophit was the leading rusher for the Flyers with 120 yards on 21 attempts.
• Ryan Skibinski scored both a rushing and a receiving touchdown on the day and finished with 70 receiving yards on three catches to go along with his two-yard rushing score, which came on his only carry of the day.
• Adam Trautman was the team's leading receiver with five catches and 82 yards.
• Trautman is now nine receptions away from Bill Franks' all-time Dayton career receptions record of 133.
• Freshman kicker Sam Webster was a perfect 2-for-2 on field goals, including his first-career field goal, which came from 53 yards out.
• Webster's 53-yard field goal ties Greg French for the third-longest in school history, is the longest by a Flyer freshman and is Dayton's longest since 1984.
• Brandon Easterling had a team-high 11 tackles (nine solo).
• Five different Flyers notched a solo tackle for loss including Easterling, Grant Dyer, Zach Rumpke, Brennan Burdo and Mike Stodola.

 
UP NEXT

• Dayton will have its home opener next week on Saturday, Sept. 21 against Duquesne, which also coincides with the University of Dayton's Family Weekend.
• Duquesne is the preseason NEC favorite.  
• Next week's game will close out UD's rugged non-conference schedule.