Dayton’s fourth-quarterback comeback falls short in loss to Marist

Marist took over and ran off most of the rest of the time to complete a 20-17 victory at Welcome Stadium on Saturday.

“If we just got a few more yards, we could have had a chance to kick a field goal and tie it or even score and be in the driver’s seat and winning,” Dayton quarterback Jack Cook said. “It always sucks to lose, especially like that. We’ve got to find a way.”

Dayton (3-3, 2-2) fell back into the middle of the pack in the Pioneer Football League standings, while Marist (3-2, 3-0) at least temporarily moved into first place by itself with a half-game lead over Davidson and Morehead State (both 2-0), who played later Saturday.

Dayton trailed 17-10 at halftime. Each team kicked a field goal in the first quarter as Dayton kept its scoring streak alive. It has not been shut out in 493 straight games, the longest active streak in college football.

Marist took a 10-3 lead on a 33-yard run by Mekhai Johnson early in the second quarter. Dayton tied the game on a 13-yard pass from Cook to Bubonics with 5:34 left in the half.

With that touchdown, Cook became Dayton’s all-time leader in touchdown passes (60). He began the day tied with Kevin Hoyng, who threw 59 touchdown passes from 2004-07.

After Dayton tied the score, Marist regained the lead on the ensuing kickoff. Johnson raced 91 yards for the score with 5:18 to go in the half.

“It killed our momentum,” Dayton coach Rick Chamberlin said. “We got the touchdown. It’s 10-7. I thought our offense was grooving and the defense had been playing well. Then, bam, they hit us. That was a lack of execution on our part. Their kickoff return, we knew was good. They had already returned one for a touchdown earlier in the year.”

Marist scored only three points in the second half but held onto its lead because it limited Dayton’s offense to 16 yards on its first two drives of the second half.

Dayton’s third drive of the half ended with a 1-yard touchdown run on fourth down by Jake Chisholm, who gained 87 yards on 21 carries. That capped a 10-play, 82-yard drive.

The offense still was on a roll when it got the ball back with 4:44 to play, but it couldn’t keep it up long enough to get into field-goal range.

Penalties hurt Dayton all day. It had 11 for a loss of 115 yards, while Marist was penalized twice for a loss of 11 yards.

“Instead of having them shut down and stopped, all at once now they get extra turns,” Chamberlin said, “and when you give good teams extra turns, more than likely they’re gonna make you pay for it.”