USDvsUDstats

San Diego, Calif. -- The USD Toreros (2-1, 1-0 PFL) earned a hard-fought 34-22 victory over the Dayton Flyers (2-2, 0-1 PFL) before 2,119 fans at Torero Stadium. San Diego needed two late touchdowns in the final 4:31 of the game to hold off the Flyers. These two teams tied for the PFL title a year ago with 7-1 records, but the Flyers won the head-to-head contest by the score of 13-12 to earn the league's automatic bid into the FCS Playoffs.

Dayton took their first lead of the game early in the 4th period on a big special teams play. Shane Hannah knocked the ball loose from Torero punter Ryan Belden and Chris Hagan scooped it up and raced in from 30 yards out for the touchdown with 12:29 to go in the game. The ensuing PAT attempt by William Will was blocked up into the air by Jamal Agnew and Will hauled it in and then found Gus Madden open in the end zone for a two-point pass conversion making the score 22-21.

The Toreros responded two series later by driving 70 yards over 10 plays that culminated with a Tevin Heyward 1-yard touchdown burst. Quarterback Anthony Lawrence was 6-for-7 during the drive including four hook-ups with TE Ross Dwelley and one each to Brian Riley and Joe Jakubowsky. Dwelley's last reception, a 13-yarder, set up Heyward's score that pushed the Toreros ahead 27-22 with 4:31 to go.

The Torero defense came up big on Dayton's next drive limiting them to just four plays before they were forced to punt it back to the Toreros. The Flyers didn't help their cause with two holding penalties and on the ensuing punt; USD's Jamal Agnew returned it 10 yards to USD's 34-yard line. The Toreros took over with 3:14 to go and after two 2-yard runs, Lawrence connected with Jonah Hodges on a swing pass to the left and Hodges raced up the left sideline for a 62-yard touchdown score that sealed the victory. On Dayton's final drive, Colton Giorgi intercepted Alex Jeske's pass on the USD 26-yard line and the Toreros ran out the clock from there.

The first half was a defensive battle with each team scoring once. The Toreros took a 7-0 lead on a Ross Dwelley 16-yard reception from Lawrence with twelve seconds left in the first quarter. Dayton evened the game with 1:26 left in the half when Adam Trautman hauled in a 17-yard pass from Jeske. In the second half USD came out with back-to-back touchdown runs from Heyward (1 yard) and Hodges (7 yards) to pull ahead 21-7. Dayton QB Alex Jeske rushed in from one yard out with 1:43 left in the third quarter to make it 21-14 that would be followed by the dramatic fourth quarter.

For the game Hodges was the workhorse as he carried the ball 23 times for 70 yards and one score. Lawrence completed 26-34 passes for 371 yards and 2 touchdowns. Ross Dwelley pulled in 8 receptions for 88 yards and one score, while Brian Riley (126 yards) and Hodges (122 yards) each had 6 receptions. The defense was paced by safety Ray Clark (8 tackles) and Colton Giorgi (7 stops, 1 interception).

Next week the Toreros head to Indianapolis for an October 1st game against the Butler Bulldogs.

QUOTES ON GAME:
USD Head Coach Dale Lindsay
On being 2-0 at home:
"I expect us to win at home. The good teams, and I think we're one of them, need to win on the road."

On the rollercoaster game:
"I think our team was high emotionally in the second half and they played the way they were capable of. Defense played pretty consistently throughout the game."

On Jonah Hodges' two touchdowns:
"That's just another day at the office for Jonah. When he's getting the ball as a runner, or catching the ball as a pass receiver, he's a fantastic athlete. If you give Jonah space, you're in trouble."

USD Running Back Jonah Hodges
On the tough Dayton defense:
"We just kept pounding throughout the game. We knew this was a tough defense and they're not all going to be pretty wins. We're just happy the offense executed during the second half."

On his 62-yard touchdown:
"I just caught it and I knew I couldn't run out of bounds because we were trying to waste the clock. I just looked up and saw Ross and he was blocking his butt off all the way down the field. So I cut back and I had space and I scored."

USD Running Back Tevin Heyward
On winning at home:
"We knew coming into this game it would be a hard game to win against a good defense and a good team. We lost to them by one point last year, so we knew we had to come back for revenge this year."