Nov. 7, 2004
Box Score
(San Diego, CA) - In a great college football game, the host USD Toreros (3-1 PFL; 6-4) downed the visiting Dayton Flyers (2-2 PFL; 7-3) by the score of 38-35 before 3,316 fans at Torero Stadium. Junior RB Evan Harney busted in from 1-yard out for the game winning score with :35 seconds left. Harney's score culminated a 7-play, 71-yard drive orchestrated by the Torero offense. With the win the Toreros finish 2nd in the PFL North Division and close out their regular-season next Saturday against Wagner College at 1:30 p.m.
With the score knotted at 28-all heading into the 4th period, USD's Hutch Parker nailed a 38-yard FG on the first play of the quarter to give the Toreros a 31-28 lead. With 9:18 left in the game Evan Harney fumbled the ball and UD's Casey Klaus returned it 79 yards to give the Flyers a 35-31 lead.
On the ensuing kickoff Nick Garton returned it 50 yards to the Dayton 49. USD went 4 plays and out with John Koker punting it away. Dayton started their drive from their own 28 and went 10 plays for 58 yards, eating up 5:21 of the clock, but the Toreros' Ronnie Pentz stopped Steve Vernhoff for a loss of 3 yards on their 4th-and-3 attempt.
The Toreros took over on their own 29 yard line with 2:42 to go. QB Todd Mortensen hit Wes Doyle for 19 yards; Nick Garton for 12 yards; Michael Gasperson for 31 yards; and after two misses, connected with Garton again for 8 yards to the one yard line. After a timeout, Harney busted in for the game-winner. Torero Eric Bakhtiari intercepted Brandon Staley's 2nd pass of the drive to save the game and prevent a potential field goal that could have sent the game into overtime.
USD jumped out to a 7-0 lead on a Todd Mortensen pass to TE Dustin Owen for 10 yards with 8:19 left in the 1st quarter. Dayton pulled to within 7-6 on Kevin Hoyng's 25-yard pass to Ryan Wrobleski down the left sideline. The Flyers missed their PAT kick.
Second quarter action saw Mortensen connect with Gasperson for a 23-yard TD, and close out the period with a 1-yard TD run by Harney. Dayton added a 19-yard TD run by Ryan Wrobleski; a 23-yard TD pass from Brandon Staley to Jack O'Dell; and a 26-yard FG by Jason Resch. Both teams went to the locker room at haltime with the score tied 21-all.
USD jumped out to a 28-21 lead in the 3rd period with Mortensen connecting with Adam Hannula for a 20-yard score, but Dayton answered with Steve Verhoff's 9-yard rush with 8:45 left in the period. That set up the 4th quarter highlights.
USD's Mortensen completed 37-of-54 passes for 464 yards and 3 TDs. The 37 completions is a new Torero record and his 464 yards passing ranks 2nd all-time. Michael Gasperson hauled in 11 receptions for 218 yards and 1 score. The 218 yards is second all-time in USD history. Junior RB Evan Harney netted 66 tough yards on the ground with 2 scores. Defensively for USD Jeff Langdon (9 tackles) and Philip Bretsch (8 tackles, 2 breakups) led the way. Dayton's Doug Jones tallied a game-high 19 tackles to go with 3 forced fumbles, 2 pass breakups and 2 tackles for loss. For the game USD finished with 520 yards of offense to Dayton's 433.
