With one game remaining against St. Thomas, Dayton is tied for fifth place in the Pioneer Football League with Davidson (6-4, 4-3) and St. Thomas (5-6, 4-3), which lost 36-20 at Butler (9-2, 5-2) on Saturday.
Drake (7-2, 6-1) had a chance to clinch the outright PFL championship Saturday but lost 29-20 at home to Morehead State. Drake had already clinched a share of the title and leads Butler (7-4, 5-2) and Morehead State by one game. It plays at last-place Stetson (2-7, 0-4) next Saturday.
Dayton trailed 7-0 when Lochow scored on a 42-yard run with 6 minutes, 29 seconds left in the second quarter. With nine seconds to play before halftime, Lochow caught a 7-yard touchdown pass from Drew VanVleet to give Dayton a 14-7 lead.
Danny Baker kicked a 36-yard field goal in the third quarter to extend Dayton’s lead to 17-7.
In the fourth quarter, after a 59-yard punt by Logan Forcum pinned Valparaiso at its own 2-yard line, Dayton tackled Valparaiso’s Ryan Mann in the end zone for a safety to give Dayton a 19-14 lead.
Dayton sealed the victory with a 1-yard touchdown run by Luke Hansen with 1:39 to play.
VanVleet completed 15 of 21 passes for 91 yards. Lochow rushed six times for 60 yards and caught seven passes for 37 yards. Hansen rushed 31 times for 98 yards.
Dayton did not turn the ball over one week after committing four turnovers in each of its last two games: a 16-10 loss to San Diego at Welcome Stadium on Nov. 9; and a 28-7 loss at Presbyterian on Nov. 2.
Dayton’s defense has held opponents to exactly 14 points in five of its seven PFL games. Gideon Lampron led Dayton with 10 tackles.
Other UD news: Logan Miller, a redshirt junior safety, was named the 67th annual winner of the Lt. Andy Zulli Memorial Trophy at halftime.
Miller is from Lebanon and graduated from Bishop Fenwick. He’s a communications major with a 3.65 GPA.
According to a UD press release, “The award goes to the Flyer senior who best exemplifies the qualities of Zulli, a former UD football player who was killed in a military vehicle accident while serving in the Army in Germany shortly after his graduation in 1954. Zulli was not a star football player at Dayton, but his qualities of sportsmanship, scholarship and leadership were so exceptional that this award was created in his memory shortly after his death. It is considered the most prestigious award in the University of Dayton football program.”
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