Butler hands Dayton first PFL loss

Presbyterian (7-0, 3-0), which beat Stetson 42-7 on Saturday, and Drake (4-2, 3-0), which beat Davidson 45-0, now lead the PFL standings with four games to play.

Dayton plays Presbyterian next weekend at noon Saturday at Welcome Stadium.

Butler quarterback Reagan Andrew completed 18 of 23 passes for 256 yards with two touchdowns.

Dayton quarterback Bryce Schondelmyer left the game with just under two minutes left in the half with an apparent shoulder injury. He had just thrown a two-yard pass to Gavin Lochow. That score tied the game at 7-7. He was replaced by Drew VanVleet.

Schondelmyer tried throwing the football on the sidelines just before the half ended, but could not and dropped the ball to the turf. In the second half, he was seen wearing a brace on his shoulder.

“His injury happened on a play on our sidelines,” Flyers coach Trevor Andrews said. “We’ll see what the training staff says and go from there.

Andrews spoke as if VanVleet, who was the Flyers starter last season, would be the starter next Saturday against Presbyterian at Welcome Stadium.

“He’s played a lot of snaps for us. If you have a back-up in college that has made as many starts as he has, you feel good about him,” Andrews said.

Schondelmyer completed 9 of 14 passes for 77 yards. VanVleet completed 7 of 16 passes for 79 yards.

In the second half, Butler’s Ryan Short kicked two field goals to extend the lead to 23-14.

Besides switching quarterbacks because of injury, UD switched place kickers Saturday. Trevor Henkle took over the duties from redshirt junior Robby Smart, who had made 2 of 5 field-goal attempts.

Henkle kicked an extra point after a third-quarter touchdown pass from Drew VanVleet to Donovan Weatherly.

With 52 seconds left in the game, he kicked a 34-yard field goal to bring the Flyers to within six points 23-17. That set up an onsides kick (by David Maurer) that failed.

Andrews said he opened up the kicking competition this past week because of missed field goals in previous games.

“(Henkle) had a great week of practice and got the job,” Andrews said, “and (Smart) actually hurt himself this week. It was good to see Henkle step up and nail a pressure kick late. He stuck it right down the middle. That was his first collegiate field goal attempt.”

Andrews also singled out junior running back Luke Hansen, who finished with 105 yards on 15 carries.

When the Flyers were backed up on their own 1-yard line to start their second possession, he burst 54 yards to Butler’s 45 yard line.

“Luke Hansen ran the ball extremely well,” Andrews said. “He was running through people. It was good to see that. When he started off with that big one, it felt like we’d be rolling but then we stalled.

“We had opportunities today but didn’t take them. Butler made more plays than we did today.”