DAYTON — The University of Dayton football team cruised past Davidson 34-3 on Senior Day at Welcome Stadium on Saturday, keeping its winning streak alive and staying atop the Pioneer Football League, according to the University of Dayton athletics official game report.
The Flyers (9-1, 6-1 PFL) recognized 26 seniors before the game, and the 70th Zulli Award was presented at halftime to this year’s recipients, seniors Mason Hackett and Zachary McDowell, Dayton athletics said. Davidson (4-7, 2-5 PFL) fell further down the league standings with the loss — a result Davidson College athletics confirmed in its own recap, noting Dayton scored 34 unanswered points after the Wildcats’ opening field goal.
Davidson scored first on a 35-yard field goal, but Dayton answered with a 57-yard touchdown pass from senior Bryce Schondelmyer to senior Gavin Lochow for a 7-3 first-quarter lead, according to Dayton athletics. The Flyers built the margin in the second quarter on an 18-play drive capped by senior Luke Hansen’s 11-yard rushing touchdown — his team-leading seventh rushing score of the year — and a 26-yard David Maurer field goal for a 17-3 halftime lead.
Schondelmyer struck again in the third quarter with a 24-yard touchdown pass to senior Michael Mussari, and Dayton closed the scoring in the fourth on a 32-yard field goal and junior Tyler Brown’s 16-yard touchdown run, Dayton athletics reported. The Flyers held Davidson to just 179 yards of total offense, and 22 different Dayton players recorded at least one tackle, led by sophomore David Curl III with six.
The dominance showed in the totals as well as the score. Davidson College athletics reported Dayton outgained the Wildcats 366 yards to 179, and Schondelmyer finished with 183 passing yards and two touchdown passes in the meeting of the two official accounts. Davidson’s Casey Bullock threw for 154 yards for the Wildcats, whose only points came on that opening field goal before Dayton’s 34 unanswered points.
Lochow’s day carried a place in the record book: with 44 receiving yards and one rushing yard, he moved into second all-time in Dayton history in all-purpose yards, according to the Flyers’ report. What happens next: Dayton finishes the regular season on the road at Presbyterian next Saturday, November 21, at 1 p.m., with its league-leading position on the line in the finale.