Dalton’s touchdown gave Dayton a 10-3 lead. Stetson scored the next 17 points. Dayton responded by outscoring Stetson 13-0 in the last 19 minutes to win 23-20 at Welcome Stadium.
“I think our defense learned that we can stand up and we can hold them,” said Dalton, a senior who also had five tackles and a sack in the game. “We knew we’re going to have to get stops on defense if we wanted to win the game, and we went out there and kept stopping them over and over again.”
Dayton (5-2, 3-1) kept its Pioneer Football League hopes alive with its second straight victory. It plays Valparaiso (4-3, 3-1) at 1 p.m. Saturday at Welcome Stadium.
St. Thomas (6-1, 4-0) remains the lone unbeaten team in PFL play. Second-place Davidson (6-2, 4-1) leads Butler (5-2, 3-1), Dayton and Valparaiso by a half game.
Dayton leads the series against Valparaiso 26-4 but lost 45-28 last season at Valparaiso.
Running back Aaron Dawson led Valparaiso to a 40-35 victory last week at Morehead State with 241 rushing yards. He leads the league with 117.7 yards per game.
“Coach (Landon) Fox, who was a defensive coordinator here for a number of years, has really done a fantastic job at Valpo,” Dayton coach Rick Chamberlin said. “He has changed the culture and the enthusiasm about the football team, and they are playing very well. They’ve got some talent — both on offense and defense. They’re right in the mix for the PFL title. There’s a number of us that are sitting there with only one loss, and so we have to be at our best on Saturday because it is going to be one of the toughest games.”
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