Dayton football: Flyers seek first victory against San Diego since 2015

The stats told only part of the story last Saturday for the Dayton Flyers football team in a 28-7 loss at Presbyterian. Coach Trevor Andrews took a deeper dive into the game when talking about it Wednesday.

“We come out defensively and get a 3-and-out, and we’re feeling really good about ourselves,” he said. “They had a miscue on a snap. I don’t know if it was a fake punt or not, but it ended up being a fake punt. They got a couple yards. It was enough to get them the first down. That kind of changed (the game) a little bit. We didn’t stand up, draw a line of sand and say, ‘No more.” We get to halftime, and the game was definitely within our grasp and we didn’t take it. When you’re on the road in a league game, you’ve got to stand up and say, ‘No more,’ sometimes. We didn’t do that.”

Dayton (5-3, 3-2) suffered its second straight Pioneer Football League loss after a 3-0 start. It’s tied with Butler (7-2, 3-2) and San Diego (5-3, 3-2) for fourth place with three games to play.

First-place Drake (6-1, 5-0) leads Morehead State (6-3, 4-1) and St. Thomas (5-4, 4-1) by a game. Drake plays at St. Thomas on Saturday and then plays Morehead State at home on Nov. 16.

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St. Thomas isn’t eligible for the Football Championship Subdivision playoffs until 2026, so the PFL playoff could go to the winner of the Morehead State at Drake game.

Dayton will have to win its last three games and get a lot of help to even sniff first place again this season. It will try to get back on track with a noon game Saturday against San Diego at Welcome Stadium.

“Obviously, the attitude of the team is, ‘Look, guys, we lost two conference games, but we can still go 3-3,” offensive lineman Ryan Iiams said. “I mean that’d be a great season. That’s four more wins than we had last year. That’s something to really build on. We’re looking to regain our edge this week and our confidence, and we’re really excited for these last three games.”

The Flyers lead the series against San Diego 16-12, but San Diego has won the last five games against Dayton. The Flyers dropped a 40-25 decision last season at San Diego. That was the first meeting between the teams since 2019. Dayton last beat San Diego 13-12 in 2015 at Welcome Stadium.

San Diego has PFL victories against Davidson, Marist and Presbyterian and losses to Drake and St. Thomas.

San Diego finished 4-7 overall and 4-4 in the PFL last season, which was the first for coach Brandon Moore. It was picked to finish fifth in the PFL preseason poll this year.

“Coach Moore has done a good job out there,” Andrews said. “The staff is kind of on the same path we’re on as far as when they got hired and all that.”

San Diego has the top wide receiver in the league: Ja’seem Reed, who has 62 receptions, 18 more than anyone else in the PFL. He has 831 yards, 148 more than anyone else, and eight touchdown catches, three more than anyone else.

“He’s a heck of a wide receiver,” Andrews said. “They move him around. They’ll line him up everywhere. They put him in motion, so you’ve got to know where he is.”

SATURDAY’S GAME

San Diego at Dayton, Noon, 1290, 95.7

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