“I have to give all the credit to the offensive linemen,” Ruffing said. “They opened some huge holes and the wide receivers for making blocks to spring some big runs.”
Ruffing broke off the first big run late in the 1st quarter of a scoreless game when he found a hole on the right side, bounced off a tackle and took it 61 yards to the Morehead 10-yard line.
Two plays later, Ruffing dove in from one yard out to give the Flyers a 7-0 lead on the first play of the 2nd quarter.
Ruffing also scored on a 31-yard run in the 2nd quarter, not bad for a player who started the season at receiver only to return to running back when the Flyers were hit with injuries.
“The more he’s practicing at running back the better he’s doing,” coach Rick Chamberlin said. “He’s really putting his foot in the ground and running north and south right now.”
The guy who was on the Eagles' scouting report was Tucker Yinger. The Flyers starting running back erupted for 128 of his game-high 196 yards in the second half, 57 of those on a 4th quarter touchdown run that broke the game open.
“Me and Tucker have a rotation that we go through so we try to stay fresh and it worked today,” Ruffing said.
Dayton’s ground game rolled up 412 yards on the day which off-set Morehead’s big-play offense.
Eagles quarterback Austin Gahafer threw for 418 yards and four touchdowns as the visitors scored 20 second half points, but Morehead never got closer than 10 points in the 2nd half.
From the not to be outdone department, Flyers quarterback Alex Jeske threw a 15-yard touchdown pass to Jack Euritt. He also ran in the final score for the home team.
It was also a record-setting day for William Will. The senior kicker became the Flyers all-time leader in field goals with a 20 yard boot in the 2nd quarter. He also split the uprights twice in the 3rd quarter, including a career-tying 49 yard effort that would have been good from 10 yards longer.
The Flyers head back out on the road for the next two weeks, starting next Saturday at Jacksonville and then the following week at Butler. Dayton is back home Saturday, Oct. 29 at Welcome Stadium.
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