DAYTON – The University of Dayton football team opened the season with an intense 18-10 win over Saint Francis Saturday at Welcome Stadium in Dayton.  The Flyers are now 1-0 on new year, while the Red Flash, who was picked to finish second in the Northeast Conference, are 0-1.

Gavin Lochow had a hand in both of UD's touchdowns.  Drew VanVleet hit a diving Lochow in the end zone for a 12-yard score on Dayton's first possession.  The Lochow, a high school quarterback threw a 27-yard strike to Luke Brenner on the Flyers' first series of the second half.

Gideon Lampron led an opportunistic Dayton defense.  Lampron, whose middle name is ESPN, had 11 tackles (six solo), forced two fumbles, recovered one and made the tackle on a safety that gave the Flyers a 9-0 lead in the first quarter.

Game Recap
1st Quarter – Dayton 9, Saint Francis 0
•    Gideon ESPN Lampron got the forced fumble and recovery on the third play of the game, giving Dayton the ball on the SFU 28-yard line. 
•    Eleven plays later, Drew VanVleet converted a third-and-goal by hitting Gavin Lochow in the end zone to put UD up 7-0.
•    The two team exchanged punts, but while Red Flash punter Aidan Cirulli's 57-yard punt was good, Flyer punter Logan Forcum's 75-yard punt was great.
•    Also great and (and key to what would happen next) was the effort by Dayton's Eli Kirk, who ran the ball down and knocked it out at the one-yard line before it could bounce into the end zone.
•    What happened next was Lampron shooting the gap and tackling Markell Holman for a safety, to give Dayton a 9-0 lead.
2nd Quarter – Dayton 9, Saint Francis 3
•    Defense ruled the second quarter as the two teams combined for 45 yards.
•    The only scoring came on SFU kicker Mac Plummer's 26-yard field goal, but even that felt like a win for UD after an errant punt snap moved the ball from near midfield to the Dayton 12.
•    The Flyer defense forced a three-and-out and forced the Red Flash into the field goal situation.
3rd Quarter – Dayton 18, Saint Francis 10
•    The rest of the game's scoring came in the third quarter.
•    UD took the second-half kickoff 74 yards in eight plays to score its second TD.
•    Lochow took a lateral from VanVleet and threw to a wide open Luke Brenner for a 27-yard score.
•    The Flyers did not convert a two-point conversion, making the score 15-3 with 11:04 left in the quarter.
•    Dayton gave Saint Francis another short field after a fumble and SFU converted this time, going 36 yards in six plays with Holman taking it in from the one.
•    The Flyers answered on the next series.  Lochow's 34-yard kickoff return set up an 11-play, 36-yard  drive set up Danny Baker's clutch 44-yard field goal to give Dayton an eight-point lead.
4th Quarter – Dayton  18, Saint Francis 10
•    Protecting a one-score advantage, UD's defense turned SFU over on the Red Flash's first two drives of the fourth period.
•    Saint Francis was at the Dayton six-yard-line when safety Vincent Firenze came up big on back-to-back plays.
•    On second down, he broke a fade pass to the corner of the end zone, and then on third down he make the hit that forced the fumble that Ca'ron Coleman recovered.
•    Forcum banged a 49-yard punt out of his own end zone, and on the next play, Cam Cope ripped the ball out of the hands of the SFU ballcarrier, giving UD the ball at its own 36.
•    The Red Flash had two more possessions, but could not get any closer than the Flyer 36-yard line.
•    The last pass of the game went to the goal line, where it was knocked down by the 6-foot-4 Firenze.

By The Numbers
•    Luke Hansen (12 carries) and Mason Hackett (18 carries) each ran for 56 net yards rushing to lead UD.
•    Drew VanVleet was 15 of 22 passing for 129 yards and a TD.
•    Gavin Lochow had eight of Dayton's 16 catches for 55 yards, including a team-high 26 yards-after-catch.
•    Lochow also returned three kickoffs for 69 yards.
•    Defensively, Gideon ESPN Lampron led UD in tackles (11), solo hits (6), TFL (3.0), sacks (1.0), fumbles forced (2) and fumbles recovered (1, along with one each by Ca'ron Coleman and Cam Cope).
•    Jerrell Lewis led the Flyers with two quarterback hurries.
•    Punter Logan Forcum averaged 49.6 yards per punt.  Two of his five punts were inside the 20, including a career-long 75-yarder.
•    The 75-yard punt tied for the fourth-longest in UD history, and was the longest Flyer punt in six years.

Up Next
•    Dayton has a bye week, and then will travel to Terre Haute, Ind. To visit Indiana State on Sept. 14.  The ISU game kicks off at 6 p.m. ET.
•    UD's next home game will be Sept. 21 at 12 Noon ET against Ave Maria.
•    The Ave Maria game is the Flyer Family Weekend Game, and has been declared a White-Out.  Fans are asked to wear white at that game.