Dayton has won its home opener four seasons in a row. This will be its second all-time matchup against Thomas More and first since an 18-7 victory at Welcome Stadium in 1992.
“I always look forward to the home opener,” coach Trevor Andrews said Wednesday. “I get to hear our marching band playing ‘Victory.’ I love the walk from the locker room to the stadium through the tailgate. It’s always special to be home for your own fans. Hopefully, we can pack them in there Saturday.
“I love playing those noon games. You get them going and then let the young men go spend some time with their families, so it’ll be fun.”
Eastern Illinois outgained Dayton 465-292 and had 25 first downs to Dayton’s nine. Eastern Illinois dominated time of possession, consuming more than 40 minutes of the clock.
Andrews said the team played hard and got off to a good start. Tackling issues hurt the Flyers on defense. They also lost some players to cramping problems.
“We’re playing some young guys up front,” he said. “They’re going to make some mistakes early on this year. We knew that. They’re young, but they’re ready. There’s a lot of potential there.”
Eastern Illinois rushed for 336 yards. Last season, Dayton allowed more than 200 rushing yards one time in 11 games. That’s a big reason it led the Football Championship Subdivision in total defense (242.9 yards per game).
Redshirt sophomore cornerback Josh Williams, a Wayne High School graduate, made a career-high six tackles in the loss.
“We threw a lot of guys in the fire, which is fine,” Williams said, “but coming back from being the No. 1 defense in all FCS, it was kind of hard to gauge and adapt to the first game. It was just the first game, and there’s a lot to learn.”
One of the new starters on offense was senior right guard Jack Plattner, a Cincinnati Turpin graduate who played his first two seasons at Thomas More and appeared in nine games last season for the Flyers.
“We fought hard,” Plattner said, “and I think we were pretty physical up front, but we just need to execute the game plan. I think the game plan was sound. We put our hearts into it, but there were some technical problems on my end and on some other guys’ ends, too. Just executing what the coach puts in front of us is really the big answer.”
Credit: David Jablonski
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