Oct. 29, 2005

Final Stats

The University of Dayton football team turned away a determined Davidson Wildcat team to win 45-15 Saturday at Richardson Stadium on the campus of Davidson College. Dayton scored the first 24 points of the game en route to its eighth victory in nine games this season.

During the game, senior wide receiver Ryan Wrobleski became the Flyer career receiving yardage leader, breaking Pat Hugar's eight-year-old record. Wrobleski now has 1,929 yards, besting Hugar's old mark of 1,878. Wrobleski also moved into second place in career receptions at Dayton. His 105 catches trail only Bill Franks' 133 set in from 1988-91.

Davidson took the opening kickoff and put together a strong eight-play, 59-yard drive, but UD safety Brandon Cramer intercepted Ryan Alexander's third-down pass in the end zone. From there the Dayton defense picked it up, allowing just 13 more yards in three Wildcat possessions the rest of the first quarter.

On the offensive side of the ball, Dayton scored 24 unanswered points. A Kevin Hoyng four-yard run put the Flyers on the board and gave them a 7-0 lead after the first quarter. Then UD scored 17 more points before halftime. Hoyng scrambled from one sideline to the other before hitting Nick Ruhe right down the right sideline for a 20-yard TD. Josh Heyne connected on a 25-yard field goal, and Ruhe followed up his first college touchdown with another when he returned a punt 64 yards for another score.

A Hoyng interception gave Davidson its best field position of the day at the Dayton 41, and the Wildcats capitalized by scoring five plays later (an Alexander quarterback sneak with 49 seconds to go in the half). A successful two-point conversion made it 24-8 at the break.

Dayton had three scoring drives of ten or more plays in the second half. The Flyers took the second-half kickoff and drove 70 yards in 10 plays (Matt Mong scoring from the two with 4:05 left). UD also drove 65 yards in 14 plays (Mong from the one with 4:12 left in the third), and 80 yards in 16 plays (Robert Dence scoring on an 11-yard run with 5:31 in the game).

By contrast, Davidson only ran 15 plays the entire second half, but one of them was a doozy. Alexander hit Brett Dioguardi for an 88-yard TD pass on Davidson's first possession of the second half. The Dayton defense limited the Wildcats to just 19 yards the rest of the half. UD had the ball over five times longer that Davidson in the second half, including an amazing 13:36 in the fourth quarter.

Hoyng completed 16 of 27 passes for 283 yards to lead UD. He was also one of five Flyers to gain 25 or more yards on the ground. Dence was the day's leader for Dayton, with six carries for 50 yards. Wrobleski's five pass receptions for 87 yards led the team in receptions. Carlton McFadgen added career-high 96 yards on four grabs, and tight end Matt Champa also had four catches for 45 yards.

In addition to his interception, Cramer led UD with six tackles (four solo). Marcus Deja added five hits, and Jared Frank, John Hoppe and Chance Walton each had four. Walton and Casey Klaus also had interceptions. Hoppe and Klaus batted down a pass apiece. Scott Wintering and Pat Weale both had sack and Brian Kelly blocked a punt.

The Flyers, who went into the game ranked second in the latest Sports Network NCAA Division I-AA Mid-Major rankings, improve 8-1 on the season. Davidson falls to 3-6.

Dayton will end the season next Saturday at Butler. UD will be looking to become just the 18th Flyer football team to finish a season with no more than one loss since football began on the Hilltop in 1905 (11 of the previous 17 teams were coached by current Dayton head coach Mike Kelly). Game time at the Butler Bowl is 1:00 p.m. EST.