Oct. 9, 2004

The University of Dayton Flyers used a dominant performance in the first half to propel them to a 38-7 win at Valparaiso on Saturday. UD led 31-0 at halftime, and out-gained the Crusaders 230 to 23 in the first half in the Pioneer Football League North Division opener for both teams. Dayton, the #1-ranked team in both the Sports Network and Football Gazette NCAA Division I-AA Mid-Major polls, improves to 5-1 on the season. Valpo falls to 3-4 overall.

Saturday's game matched up Dayton, this year's pre-season PFL North favorite, against the defending PFL champion Crusaders. They sparred early in the game, exchanging punts the first two times they had the ball, then the Flyers forced a break. Jack O'Dell punted 36 yards to the VU nine, where Bill Groetsema forced a fumble and Scott Wintering fell on it. Three plays later Marques Warner ran it it from the four.

After another Valpo three-and-out, UD needed just a pass interference penalty and a 32-yard run by Ryan Wrobleski (along with Jason Resch's second PAT of the day) to lead 14-0. Dayton had 82 yards in total offense in the first period, while holding Valparaiso to a negative two yards.

Resch opened the second quarter scoring with a 45-yard field goal (matching his career best), and then Warner and Wrobleski each ran for another TD to build the Flyer lead to 31-0 at halftime. Dayton had 218 yards in the first half, while holding the Crusaders to minus four yards.

In the third quarter, VU put together its only scoring drive, and in the process, gained nearly half of its 172-yard offensive output on its 83-yard drive with 8:50 left in the third quarter to make the score 31-7. Neither team was able to put together any offensive rhythm until the Flyers put together a game-defining 12-play, 72-yard scoring drive that ate up six minutes and 39 seconds.

Brandon Godsey scored the two-yard TD, but the drive was mostly the handiwork of the Dayton offensive line and starting tailback Steve Verhoff. Verhoff had five carries for 49 yards on the drive, and four of the runs resulted in first downs. Verhoff ended the day with a career-high 11 yards on 24 carries and also caught two of UD's passes for nine more yards.

The Dayton defense was led by senior defensive tackle Chris Dearth. The senior co-captain returned to action after suffering a serious knee injury in the Yale game. The two-week layoff didn't affect his production, as Dearth led UD with six tackles, forced two fumbles, was credited with one QB sack, knocked down a pass at the line and also had three QB pressures.

The Flyers came up with four turnovers in the game (fumble recoveries by Wintering and Jared McQuiston, and interceptions by Brandon Cramer and Eric Heideloff). The Crusaders were held to just 47 yards rushing, and their quarterbacks completed just nine of 26 passes. Aside from the six-play, 83-yard TD drive, VU averaged 1.1 yards per play.

Dayton steps out of conference play next Saturday, but that doesn't mean it's an easy week ahead. The Flyers are at Robert Morris, who entered this week's game #2 (just behind UD) in the Mid-Major polls. Game time next Saturday at Moon Stadium is 1:30 p.m. EDT.