Saturday, October 17
Dayton, Ohio
1:00 p.m.
Davidson College Athletics
at
Dayton
Photo by: Tim Cowie - DavidsonPhotos.com
Davidson Football Takes on First-Place Dayton Saturday
10/14/2009 11:36:53 AM | Football
Davidson Wildcats (2-3, 2-1 PFL) vs. Dayton Flyers (4-1, 2-0 PFL)
Oct. 17, 2009 - Dayton, Ohio
Welcome Stadium (11,000) - 1 p.m. - Artificial Turf
Oct. 17, 2009 - Dayton, Ohio
Welcome Stadium (11,000) - 1 p.m. - Artificial Turf
Today's Game
• The Wildcats travel to Dayton to take on perennial Pioneer Football League power Dayton, which is tied for first in the league at 2-0.
• Davidson is 7-13 all-time in league games on the road, including 2-6 in its last eight and 0-1 this season.
• The Wildcats have never won at Welcome Stadium, where Dayton has won 85 percent of its games overall.
• The 'Cats are 14-11 in their last 25 PFL contests and own a 20-20 all-time PFL record.
• Davidson is coming off a 16-10 victory over Morehead State last Saturday, which broke a two-game losing skid against the Eagles.
• This is the first home league game for the Flyers, who are coming off two straight PFL road wins.
• Dayton defeated Campbell 35-17 last Saturday in Buies Creek, N.C.
Series Record
• Davidson trails the all-time series, which began in 1989, 6-1.
• The 'Cats posted their only victory over Dayton in 2006, 37-36 at home.
• Dayton quarterback Rob Florian completed 21-of-24 passes for 200 yards and rushed for 51 yards and a score to lead the Flyers to a 41-22 victory over Davidson at Richardson Stadium last season.
• Ryan Alexander led the Wildcats with 394 passing yards and three touchdowns.
• Kirk Konert proved to be Alexander's favorite target and finished with a career-high 153 yards and two TDs.
• Dayton led 41-0 with 11:58 left in the game after Sean Heenan scooped up an Alexander fumble and rumbled 77 yards for a touchdown. Davidson scored the final 22 points of the contest and racked up 194 of its 401 yards in the fourth quarter.
Scouting the Flyers
• The Flyers are stout defensively, allowing just 15.2 points a game. Dayton has not given up more than 17 points in any of their five games this season.
• Dayton has 17 sacks this season and allows just 108.8 rushing yards a contest.
• Steve Valentino leads the Flyers in passing and rushing with 947 yards through the air and 269 on the ground. He's also caught five passes for 45 yards. The senior has accounted for nine touchdowns.
• Justin Watkins has 349 receiving yards and three TDs and averages 17.5 yards a catch.
• James Vercammen leads the Flyers in tackles with 59 and has nine tackles for loss and three sacks.
• The Flyers have been down 7-0 in the opening minutes of the game in each of their last four contests.
PFL Honors
• The Pioneer Football League named Davidson senior Alex Griswold its Defensive Player of the Week following his performance in the Wildcats' victory over Morehead State.
• Griswold had two sacks, three tackles for loss and two forced fumbles against the Eagles. The defensive lineman collected six total tackles, including five solo, and added a pass breakup.
• He is tied for third on the team with 27 tackles and leads the squad with eight tackles for loss, 4.5 sacks and four forced fumbles. The forced fumbles are already the most in a season since Mark Wilkerson had four in 2003.
Claw Marks
• The Wildcat defense is allowing 14.7 points a game in PFL contests.
• The Wildcats allowed just 59 rushing yards against Morehead State Oct. 10. It was the least rushing yards Davidson has allowed since the 'Cats gave up minus-40 yards in a 24-21 home victory over Drake in 2007.
• Linebacker Tyler Lemons had nine tackles against Morehead State to give him 200 for his career.
• Mark Hanabury had a career day at Jacksonville Oct. 3, catching nine passes for 146 yards and a touchdown. It was the most yards for a Davidson receiver since Kirk Konert had 153 against Dayton in 2008.
• Neither Davidson nor Jacksonville committed a turnover in their game Oct. 3. It's the first time Davidson has been involved in a game in which neither team committed a turnover since the 2008 season finale against Butler. That's also the last time the Wildcats had a turnover free game.
• With their 24-7 victory over Campbell Sept. 19, the 'Cats have now won their Pioneer Football League opener in six of the nine seasons they have been in the league.
• Running back Kenny Mantuo matched his career high with 135 rushing yards against Campbell. He had 135 at Jacksonville in 2007.
• The 'Cats are 4-0 when either running back Kenny Mantuo or Justin Williams rushes for 100 yards or more.
• Junior quarterback Michael Blanchard is making his sixth career start. Davidson is 2-3 with Blanchard as its starting quarterback.
• The Wildcats, who are playing their 111th season of football, are scheduled to play the 1,000th game in school history Nov. 7 at San Diego.
• Head coach Tripp Merritt is climbing the all-time victory list at Davidson. With 22 wins, he needs three to move into the top-5. He is slated to coach his 50th career contest against San Diego Nov. 7.
• The 'Cats need one more victories to make 2000-09 the winningest decade in school history.
• The Wildcats opened the 2009 home schedule with new red jerseys. The new look was a surprise to the team as they found them laid out by their lockers when they reported to the Richardson Stadium locker room on game day. Davidson is 1-1 with the red jerseys.
• Davidson's 56-0 loss at Elon was its worst since a 56-0 setback at San Diego in 2004. It was the first time the 'Cats were shut out since a 33-0 loss at VMI in the 2005 season opener.
• Davidson was shut out in its first two games of the 2009 campaign. It's the first time Davidson has not scored in consecutive games in the same season since the 1985 campaign, when the 'Cats lost 28-0 at James Madison and 15-0 to Penn the previous week. The 'Cats failed to score in three straight games that season as they lost 31-0 at The Citadel.
• It was the first time Davidson was held scoreless in consecutive contests since falling 23-0 to Georgetown in the last game of 2004 and opening the 2005 season with a 33-0 setback at VMI.
• The Wildcats have scored 10 points in the first half this season.
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