Box Score

Dayton quarterback Alex Jeske had 272 yards through the air, leading the visiting Flyers to a 31-16 win over Butler Saturday afternoon at the Butler Bowl. With the win, Dayton improves to 6-2 on the season and 4-1 in Pioneer Football League play. Butler falls to 3-5 (1-4 PFL).

Butler rallied for 13 points in the final 16 minutes, but a pair of drives in the final five minutes of the game ended without points, thwarting the comeback.

"There is no quit in our guys but it's hard to come back from slow starts consistently," said Butler head coach Jeff Voris. "This locker room plays for each other and it was a tough day for us with several of our leaders going down with injuries. I'm proud of our fight and we'll need some of our younger guys to step up in the coming weeks to replace our guys who are injured. The rest of the teams on our schedule aren't going to feel bad for us."

Dayton led 14-0 eight minutes into the contest after a pair of touchdown passes. The Flyers extended the lead to 28-3 at the half.

After a Dayton field goal, Butler's Malcolm Weaver connected with fellow senior Danny Cotter on a 9-yard touchdown pass. A John Hall 53-yard run was the key play on the drive. That made the score 31-10 and then Anthony Scaccia scored from seven yards out with 7:40 remaining to cap a 12-play, 72-yard drive. That proved to be the final points of the game.

There was a 50-minute delay midway through the second quarter as senior captain Jordan Ransone was taken to a local hospital with a leg injury. The officiating crew sent the teams to the locker room with 7:03 remaining in the second quarter and Dayton leading, 21-3. The teams finished the second quarter and then had only a three-minute break between the second and third quarters.

Weaver also left the game late in the fourth quarter with an injury, after throwing for 138 yards and a touchdown. Hall led Butler with 78 yards on just six carries. Duvante Lane had six carries for 61 yards. The Bulldogs had 188 yards rushing and limited Dayton to just 112 yards on the ground.

Pace Temple led Butler with 90 yards receiving.

Mike Cerone had an interception for the Bulldogs, who were led by Zach LaRoche's eight tackles.

The Bulldogs return to action Saturday (Oct. 29) at PFL foe Valparaiso. Kick-off is set for 1 p.m. Butler concludes the home portion of its 2016 schedule Saturday, Nov. 5 when Morehead State visits the Butler Bowl. The game is Senior Day and falls on Family Weekend.