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Sports TwitterFlyers let lead, PFL title slip away in 4th quarter
Jacksonville comes from behind to beat Dayton 19-14, clinching Gridiron Classic berth.
Sunday, November 23, 2008
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — A seven-minute stretch in the fourth quarter was too much to overcome for the Dayton Flyers, who saw a two-touchdown lead evaporate into a 19-14 loss to the Jacksonville Dolphins. The loss Saturday, Nov. 22, cost the Flyers the Pioneer Football League championship.
The Flyers, who were defending league champions and winners of last year's Gridiron Classic against Albany, won't get a chance to defend their bowl win. Instead, Jacksonville — earning its first-ever football crown with its school-record seventh consecutive win — will travel to Albany on Dec. 6 to represent the Pioneer League.
For three quarters Saturday, Nov. 22, a Dayton rematch with Albany looked almost certain. The Flyers had scored on their opening possession when Steve Valentino took a 23-yard pass from Rob Florian to complete a 9-play, 43-yard drive.
That lead held through halftime and late in the third quarter, Dayton (9-3, 6-2 in league play) doubled the margin when Nick Collins made a finger-tip grab of a Florian pass and raced 64 yards to the end zone. The touchdown came with 1:59 left in the quarter and sent the Flyers into the fourth with momentum over a dejected group of Dolphins playing in front of a school-record crowd of 5,263.
That's when disaster hit the Flyers in the face. The Dolphins closed in with an interception return to the 1-yard line that led to one score and a 54-yard punt return by Dolphins' speedster Elliott Finkley for a touchdown. However, Dayton kept the lead because Jacksonville (9-3, 7-1) missed both extra point attempts.
The lead didn't last long this time. Dayton was forced to punt and a 16-yard return by Finkley gave JU the ball inside the Flyers' 40. From there, Jacksonville needed just seven plays to score its third touchdown in seven minutes.
Dayton had two more possessions in the final five minutes, but both drives ended in Florian interceptions, his third and fourth errant throws of the game.
In his first game back for Dayton after missing two games with a hand injury, Florian showed some rust. He connected on 20 passes out of 46 attempts. In addition to the four interceptions, JU defenders dropped two other sure picks.
Afterwards, Florian accepted blame for the loss, but said his hand was not affected by the injury.
"The hand didn't bother me, I just didn't get the job done today," he said. "It's my fault. I don't know how I let that happen. On that last interception I just couldn't get it to my guy. I just didn't have the arm strength to do it."
"I think it was just the idea of Rob having to wear the glove," UD coach Rick Chamberlin said. "I thought he threw some nice balls down the middle, but his deeper passes were probably off a bit because of wearing the glove."
