Bell, on the other hand, has been the top quarterback in the Pioneer Football League the past two seasons and was recently added to the watch list to decide the best offensive player in the Football Championship Subdivision (FCS.)
And late in the second quarter Saturday at Welcome Stadium it seemed that Bell, even though he was hobbled a bit by a tender ankle, was about to throw his 20th touchdown pass of the season.
He had his team first-and-goal on the Dayton 5-yard line and immediately targeted receiver Andy Jones, who leads the PFL in receiving yards per game, in the right corner of the end zone.
But at the last second, Stubbs closed on Jones and swatted the ball away for an incompletion.
After a second down misfire over the middle, Bell then opted to throw to receiver Damien Strange in the left corner of the end zone.
But as Strange turned for the ball, Searles, who had read the play from the start, lunged in front of him and picked off the pass.
“I think it’s great for us to have threats on both sides of the field,” Stubbs said later. “You can try one side and get nothing, so then you go to the other and there’s nothing there either. I think it can definitely be demoralizing to another team.”
That likely would sum up Jacksonville’s feeling Saturday. The Dolphins, who came into the game 6-1 and were the second-highest scoring team in the PFL, didn’t score their first points until time expired on the last play of the third quarter.
Dayton would cruise to a 31-14 victory and go 8-0, something they last did 14 years ago. As Chamberlin noted, the Flyers are one of three unbeaten FCS schools remaining.
“We still have more games to go, but it is something pretty special,” Stubbs said. “I think a lot of people doubted us at the beginning of the year and we took it personal that people didn’t think we were first in the PFL. It gave us a little edge and now we’re using that every time we can. We want to show people.”
Saturday, several Flyers put on a show, none more so than redshirt freshman quarterback Alex Jeske, who seems to get better with each game. He completed 20 of 23 passes for 180 yards and a touchdown to Tyler Tumpane. He also ran for a score.
The defense had several noteworthy performers but nobody had any more dynamic plays than Searles, a 5-foot-9 sophomore, and Stubbs, a 5-10 senior.
Along with his third interception of the season, Searles had seven tackles. Stubbs had six, two for losses, and broke up two passes. He leads the Flyers in pass breakups and is second in the PFL with five interceptions.
And the pair are also UD’s top return men. Searles is second in the PFL in punt return yardage (11.8) and Stubbs is the Flyers’ top kick returner. Saturday he brought back one kick 49 yards.
“After a game we take a look at the stats just to see how we did against each other,” Stubbs laughed. “It’s a competition on who can do the best each week. We have a little rivalry and it’s good. He brings out the best in me and I bring out the best in him. We push each other and hold each other to high standards.”
Chamberlin said their rivalry is healthy: “They’re companions. They want the best for each other.”
Defensive coordinator Landon Fox especially sees that in the team’s preparations: “They’re very close in the film room. They watch what each other is doing and give each other advice. They make a good pair.”
And yet, he said, they couldn’t be more different in some aspects, Fox said:
“Christian is very quiet. It’s hard to get two words out of him. He’s pretty even-keeled, never too high or too low.”
And Cameron?
Fox just smiled and said he’s overflowing with personality:
“He was always a good player, but in the early years his emotions sometimes got the best of him and he was up and down. His maturity from then to now is amazing. Now he’s at a point where he can play 80 snaps for us.”
Fox said together Stubbs and Searles are the “yin and yang” of the Flyers defense.
Each, though, came to UD after first setting his sights elsewhere.
Playing at St. Louis University High School in St. Louis, Stubbs said he had hoped to land at a Division I school and had drawn some interest from Mid-American Conference schools and a few others. But then he broke his collarbone as a junior and suffered a broken finger as a senior.
He said while some schools lost interest, Dayton kept recruiting him.
When Searles was at Mt. Carmel High outside Chicago, he was initially known as a point guard on the basketball team. He had good grades and some Ivy League football programs took a real interest.
He said a few other schools wanted him to be a walk-on and still others thought he was too short (he is the shortest Flyer) for a high level of college football.
He was especially interested in Cornell, but then his dad got in contact with UD.
“His dad had heard about Dayton, so he called us and said they’d like to take a look at us,” Chamberlin said. “We looked at him on film and said, ‘Oh my gosh, let’s get him down here’ He came in here and signed that first day.”
Both Stubbs and Searles said they have found a real home at UD.
“But sometimes on campus people still confuse us for each other,” Stubbs laughed. “They know we’re both football players and we’re both light-skinned (African-Americans) and sometimes people will mix us up. They’re not quite sure just who is who.”
Then again, the same thing happened to Kade Bell on Saturday.
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