“It felt great to be out there, ” said Jeske, who finished the day 12 of 22 passing for 122 yards.
Dayton fell behind 3-0 in the first quarter but pulled even going into halftime on a 31-yard field goal by freshman kicker Allen Waltz.
The third quarter belonged to the Flyers. Dayton took the second-half kickoff and marched 75 yards for a go-ahead score. Jeske hit Matt Tunnacliffe on a 42-yard pass to the Drake 7-yard line. Jeske ran for a touchdown on the next play.
Later in the quarter, Nick Surges intercepted Drake quarterback Grant Kraemer, giving the Flyers the ball at the Bulldogs’ 31. A touchdown run by Tucker Yinger was wiped out by a holding penalty, and then an offensive pass interference penalty had Dayton facing a second-and-goal at the 29. Jeske rolled to his left and found Ryan Skibinski in the corner of the end zone.
“Ryan ran a corner rote, and I was looking for him the whole way,” said Jeske.
UD led 17-3 at the end of the third quarter, but Drake cut the lead to 17-10 on an 80-yard drive early in the fourth
After Drake muffed a punt, the Flyers added another Waltz field goal to extend their lead back to 10.
The defense took over from there, constantly putting pressure on the Drake quarterback.
“We got him out of his rhythm,” UD coach Rick Chamberlin said. “It cost him, as he threw it to the wrong person.”
Dayton had four interceptions, two by freshman Tim Simon, who was pressed into service when safety David Leisring was ejected for a targeting penalty .
“I was prepared,” said Simon. “Next man up. That’s our motto.”
Dayton 2-4 and 1-2 in the Pioneer Football League, won at Drake for the first time since 2009.
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