Dayton got on the board when Adam Trautman caught his league-leading 10th TD pass from Jack Cook. However, Trautman was held to just five catches in the game.
“They were not going to let him beat them, “ Dayton coach Rick Chamberlin said. “Their linebacker (Colby Duncan) followed him everywhere. They jammed him at the line of scrimmage and double-teamed him.”
Stetson scored right before halftime on a 2-yard run by DiFillippo to take a 21-7 lead into the break.
Dayton then fumbled the second-half kickoff, and was fortunate to hold Stetson to a 37-yard Johnny Messina field goal. UD cut the deficit to 24-14 on a 45-yard touchdown pass from Cook to Jake Chisholm.
That was as close as the Flyers would get. Jalen Leary ran 81 yards for a back-breaking touchdown, then a Cook interception started a Stetson scoring drive that ended with DiFillippo throwing a 10-yard touchdown pass to tight end Tony Gilotti.
Dayton scored on the first play of the fourth quarter when Cook hit Ryan Skibinski in the end zone from 9 yards out, but that was all the Flyers could muster.
Dayton had 466 yards of offense, but Stetson racked up 498, including 457 in the first three quarters.
“That is one of the worst defeats I have been around, “ said Chamberlin. “We were physically beat. We have got to get better on defense. We cannot rely on our offense to score 42 points every game.”
Stetson improves to 5-1, 2-1. Dayton fell to 4-2, 2-1.
“I told the guys we are still in it,” Chamberlin said.“We’ve got a big game this week.”
Dayton hosts defending PFL champion San Diego on Saturday at Welcome Stadium.
SATURDAY’S GAME
San Diego at Dayton, Noon, 1290, 95.7 WHIO Radio
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