UAlbany Falls to Dayton in Gridiron Classic 42-21

Courtesy: UAlbany Sports Information

Dayton, Ohio -- Quarterback Kevin Hoyng passed for 316 yards and accounted for four touchdowns, three passing and one receiving, in leading No. 24 Dayton to a 42-21 victory over UAlbany in the second annual Gridiron Classic on Saturday afternoon at Welcome Stadium.

Dayton (11-1) secured its first mid-major national title since 2002. The Pioneer Football League co-champion should be awarded The Sports Network Cup when the final poll is released on Monday. UAlbany, the Northeast Conference champion, finished with an 8-4 record.

The Flyers, who ran off seven consecutive wins to end the season, broke a 14-14 tie in the third quarter with 21 unanswered points. Hoyng, the Gridiron Classic MVP, directed his team on a 12-play drive for the go-ahead points. He tossed a 6-yard scoring pass to tight end Matt Champa in the right corner of the end zone with 9:30 left in the period.

Dayton reached paydirt with a pair of long drives on its next two possessions. Hoyng, who connected on 34 of 45 attempts, hooked up with Jack O'Dell on a 17-yard touchdown strike. Hoyng looked right and then threw to the back of the end zone to beat the safety. The senior tossed his third scoring pass, a one-yard completion to Champa, out of a full-house T backfield for a 35-14 lead.

The Great Danes, who were making their first postseason appearance in five years, rallied from a halftime deficit to tie the contest at 14 apiece on the second play of the third period. David McCarty raced 63 yards around right end for the touchdown and quarterback Vinny Esposito ran for the two-point conversion. McCarty, who added a 3-yard scoring run in the final quarter, rushed for 134 yards on 16 carries, his sixth straight 100-plus effort.

"That's a very good team,” UAlbany coach Bob Ford said. “They don't beat themselves. Their quarterback is quite a piece of machinery. We picked a bad day to play undisciplined football."

The Flyers made use of good field position to strike first in the opening period. Hoyng jump-started the scoring march by scrambling to complete a 21-yard pass to Nick Ruhe. Hoyng, the league's offensive player of the year, then threw three straight completions to set up Ben Shappie's one-yard blast over right guard for a 7-0 lead.

After Esposito fumbled after a sack, the Great Danes' defense stiffened. McCarty rumbled 35 yards over the left side into UD territory. Esposito then found flanker Mike Wall with a 42-yard touchdown pass on a post pattern. However, linebacker Brian Kelly blocked the extra point.

Dayton took a 14-6 advantage to the intermission with an 81-yard TD march. The drive was kept alive when the Great Danes were offsides in a fourth-and-one situation at the UAlbany 9. Shappie then threw a halfback pass to Hoyng, who slipped out of the backfield on the left side, for an eight-yard touchdown with 52 seconds remaining.

"Their quarterback is the most elusive that I have ever faced,” said UAlbany linebacker Colin Disch, who had nine tackles in his final game as a collegian. “The film didn't justify his ability to scramble, move well, and keep his feet. In the second half, they made a lot of third-down conversions, and that was a big difference."

McCarty added, "We came out a little soft and seemed unaware of what they had to offer. They were undersized as compared to what we've faced this year. We made foolish mistakes and they made corrections that we were unable to adjust to."