Dayton 0-2 in PFL after fourth-quarter comeback falls short

The experience inside the stadium for fans lived up to the experience outside — at least until the final seconds.

Dayton rallied from a 20-0 deficit only to lose 20-14 to the defending Pioneer Football League champion and preseason favorite St. Thomas.

The game wasn’t decided until Dante Casciola’s pass to Joey Swanson was broken up by Johnson Fallah at the goal line with five seconds to play. A touchdown and an extra point would have given Dayton the lead for the first time all day.

“We got the ball down to the 5, and I wish we had that back,” Casciola said. “I wish I played better, but I’m super proud of the guys and how we went all the way down the field with no timeouts against that type of defense.”

St. Thomas (3-2, 2-0) won its 12th straight PFL game. It won its last two league games in 2021 and all eight last season.

Dayton (2-3) fell to 0-2 in PFL play for the first time since 2017 when it lost its first two games to Morehead State and San Diego. Dayton also suffered its first home loss since Oct. 16, 2021, against Marist. It had won nine games in a row at Welcome Stadium.

“The effort in the second half was unbelievable,” coach Trevor Andrews said. “They never doubted. They kept cranking. The defense hasn’t been scored on in the second half two weeks in a row. Those guys are scrapping. The issue is you can’t put yourself in a hole in the first half with with some unforced errors that lead to points, and that’s what we’ve done two weeks in a row. We’ve got to figure it out.”

St. Thomas scored touchdowns on three of its first four drives to build a 20-0 lead. The third touchdown came on a drive kept alive by a fake field goal.

Dayton got on the board with 3:24 left in the first half when Casciola scored on a 10-yard run. A 92-yard kickoff return by Gavin Lochow set up that touchdown.

In the second half, St. Thomas punted on its first six possessions and did not earn a first down. Dayton’s offense wasn’t any better in that stretch, but an 80-yard drive capped by a 5-yard touchdown pass from Cole Dow to Lochow got the Flyers back in the game, cutting the deficit to 20-14.

After St. Thomas missed a 45-yard field goal with 1:55 to play, Dayton got one more chance.

Casciola threw a 47-yard pass to Jake Coleman to put Dayton in the red zone. Casciola was sacked on the next two plays for a loss of 15 yards but then connected with Coleman for a 21-yard gain to set up a 4th-and-4 situation, which led the final incompletion.

Casciola completed 11 of 23 passes for 161 yards. Michael Neel ran 16 times for 69 yards. Coleman finished with three catches for 93 yards.

“We didn’t have a great first half,” Coleman said. “Too many unforced errors. But we stayed stay vigilant, stay focused the whole game and you can’t really ask for much more.”

Safety Ca’Ron Coleman led the defense with 13 tackles.

“We had a good game plan,” Ca’Ron said. “We executed well. I just feel like we beat ourselves.”