Box Score

USDvsDAVfinalstats

(San Diego, Calif) -- Behind a big first half from senior running back Jonah Hodges, the USD football team (4-1, 3-0 PFL) downed visiting Davidson 52-3 in front of 2,827 fans in the annual Homecoming/Family Weekend game. USD led 28-0 at the end of the first quarter with Hodges already accounting for 166 rushing yards and 3 touchdowns. At the half and USD leading 42-0, Hodges would total 176 yards and tie the school record with 4 rushing touchdowns in a game. He would sit out the entire second half with USD cruising to victory.

The win was USD's 25th straight PFL home victory and the Torero defense came ready to play as they limited the Wildcats to 230 yards of offense (70 rush, 160 pass) and just one field goal. Junior DE Jonathan Petersen finished with 4 tackles, 2.5 tackles for loss, a forced fumble and quarterback hurry. Freshman LB Jacob Bergstrom chipped in with 4 stops, followed by safety David Tolbert (3 tackles) and DL Spencer Hammitt (3 stops, 1.5 tackles for loss, 1 fumble recovery.

The Torero offense finished with 640 yards of total offense with 337 yards coming on the ground. Jereke Armstrong got USD on the scoreboard first with a 2-yard run at the 12 minute mark of the first quarter. That was followed by four straight Hodges touchdown runs of 2, 6, 68 and 2. Quarterback Anthony Lawrence connected with TE Ross Dwelley for a 7-yard touchdown with 3:58 to go that made the score 42-0. In the second half Armstrong added a 36-yard touchdown run and Patrick Murray connected on a 24-yard field goal late in the third period. Davidson's Trevor Smith connected on a 35-yard field goal with 11:17 to go in the game to prevent the shutout.

For USD Lawrence would finish 10-14 for 191 yards and 1 score. Senior WR Brian Riley hauled in 5 passes for 139 yards with a long of 43 yards. Dwelley added 4 catches for 63 yards to go with his 7-yard TD catch. Armstrong would go on to finish with 81 yards rushing on 16 carries with his two scores.

USD heads to Des Moines, Iowa next week to take on the Drake Bulldogs in a 10:30 a.m. (Pacific) contest at Drake Stadium.

POSTGAME QUOTES:
Jonah Hodges

On his four rushing TDs:
"I think that shows how well the offensive line played today. The holes were wide open so every running back went in there and did a great job due to the offensive line's play."

On Homecoming Weekend:
"It's always fun to play a homecoming game. There are more fans and more energy. I'm glad we could go out and give them a performance."

On his 176 yards:
"We just came in with a good game plan. Our coaches wanted us to run the ball through and I think we executed very well."

Jonathan Petersen

On Toreros overall performance:
"All in all, I think we've been looking for a whole team victory through all three phases. Today our special teams performed exceptionally well. 52 points shows that our offense is up there with the best in the league as far as putting points up on the board. Defensively, I think we all worked together. Giving up only three points is something that we're all taking pride in."

On his motivation for today:
"A lot of us had our families were in the crowd and the older guys were here. I think we had to go a little harder to make them all proud."

Coach Dale Lindsey:

On the win:
"Our offense played quite well, defense did the job they're supposed to, and special teams continued to improve. We seemed to get off to a fast start so that became a very manageable game as opposed to one where you want to bite your nails and scream."

On Jonah Hodges:
"Any time that our offensive line is blocking that well and getting holes -- all you have to do is get him some space and he'll do the rest. He has great acceleration, he can start and stop, and then he can outrun you when he makes you miss. I'm very happy for him because he is looking like he did a couple years ago."