Sept. 2, 2004

DAYTON -- The University of Dayton football team rolled up 313 yards of total offense, including 229 on the ground, en route to a season-opening 38-9 win over Tiffin University Thursday night at Welcome Stadium. The Flyers (1-0) have now won four straight openers and 21 of their last 22.

Both UD's leaders on the ground were quarterbacks, as senior starter Brandon Staley gained 45 yards on 10 carries with two touchdowns and redshirt sophomore Kevin Hoyng went for 54 yards on nine rushes. In all, 12 Flyers carried the ball on the night.

Staley put the Flyers up 17-0 on a pair of 1-yard touchdown runs, which bookended a career-long 48-yard field goal by Jason Resch in the closing seconds of the first quarter. The Flyers led 24-7 at the half and racked up 14 points more in the third quarter.

Staley's first TD run capped a 6-play, 13-yard scoring drive with 7:18 to play in the first. Following a Tiffin punt, the Flyers were blessed with excellent field position at the Dragons' 31, but a stalled drive of four plays that gained nothing left Resch facing a long field goal with a slight wind at his back. The senior's kick just cleared the crossbar, improving on his previous career-best of 46 yards, which came against the Dragons last season.

Another Staley 1-yard TD run followed by a 1-yard run to the end zone by Matt Mong stretched the Flyers' advantage to 24-0. Mong's TD capped an 11-play, 52-yard drive with 4:09 to play in the half.

Tiffin (0-2), which remains winless in its four games against UD, finally cracked the end zone with 45 second left in the half on a 2-yard TD jaunt by Earl Haynes. Haynes carried the ball 25 times on the night for a game-best 81 yards.

Two big plays, one on offense and one on defense, capped the Flyers' scoring for the night. Hoyng, in his first collegiate action after redshirting as a freshman, slipped thought the Dragon defense for a dazzling 29-yard TD run with 12:23 left. Just under three minutes later, freshman safety Brandon Cramer scooped up a loose ball off the turf and ran 67 yards for the touchdown. The fumble was one of three on the night for TU, resulting in 14 UD points. Chris Cowan and Mike Neuberger had the other two.

Defensively, senior DB Doug Jones made a game-high 13 tackles (10 solo), while Chris Dearth was in on 11. Trent Warren had three tackles (1 for a loss), a sack and knocked down two passes. Both pass deflections and the sack for Warren came on a stiff goal line stand late in the fourth quarter. TU had six shots at the end zone inside 10 yards, but came up empty.

The Flyers remain at home Saturday, Sept. 11 to host Morehead State. Kickoff between the favorites in both the PFL North and South Divisions is set for 7:00 p.m. at Welcome Stadium. MSU opens its season Saturday against Coastal Carolina.