Flyers pay for late mistakes
CAPE GIRARDEU, MO. — The Dayton Flyers were in prime position to post a huge road win Saturday afternoon.
But the Flyers (1-1) came undone in the fourth quarter in a 40-21 loss at Southeast Missouri.
After Tucker Yinger gave the Flyers a 21-20 lead on a 34-yard touchdown run with 14:03 to play, SEMO outscored Dayton 20-0 the rest of the way.
“We made mistakes and they made us pay,” Dayton coach Rick Chamberlin said.
After Yinger’s score, the RedHawks (1-1) answered right back to take a 26-21 lead with 8:27 to play.
Facing a 4th-and-8 at the RedHawks’ 31 on the ensuing possession, Jack Cook’s completion to Kyle Butz came up short for the Flyers.
On the next snap, SEMO’s Zack Smith raced 73 yards on an end-around to open a 33-21 lead, and then the final nail was a 95-yard run by Marquis Terry after a Cook fumble.
“We were out of position on those plays,” Dayton senior defensive end Nick Surges said. “We didn’t control the controllable.”
Yinger rushed for 115 yards on 22 carries. Cook, in his first career start, completed 22 of 45 passes for 281 yards and a touchdown. The red- shirt freshman also rushed for 83 yards.
Terry rushed for 202 yards for SEMO.
Dayton returns to action Saturday at Duquesne.
It was a season of firsts for Nick Bertke.
The Lewisburg resident won his first city title, earned a spot on the men’s all-city team for the first time and capped it off with Greater Dayton United States Bowling Congress bowler of the year honors. The allcity teams and bowler of the year award are determined by a point system based on tournament finishes at the local, state and national levels. High games, high series and season averages are also factors.
“I’ve never really tried to see how many points I can get, I just bowl,” Bertke said.
Bertke started the season strong with top-10 finishes in both the city doubles and singles events. The 30-year-old knew he needed to roll 740 in the team event to claim the city all-events title, and he topped that by almost 100 pins, rolling a season-high 835. It was one of three 800 series Bertke posted on the season. He also rolled four 300 games.
In addition to his strong finishes in city tournaments, Bertke and his teammates also placed in the top five in the state tournament. And he averaged between 218 and 225 in his three leagues last season.
“I’ve averaged higher, but never put that many good games together when it mattered,” Bertke Nick Bertke (75); Curt Rasnic Sr. (62); Doug Moss Jr. (57); Ryan Kohlmeyer (55); Curtiss Rasnic Jr. (53); Gary Schrader (53); Sheldon Short (53). Mike Haggitt (49); Derrick Wright Jr. (44); Josh Burkhardt (41); Jim Fausnight (41)
said.
Bertke, who has bowled in GDUSBC leagues for more than a decade, is quick to credit his fellow bowlers for his strong performance last season.
“I’m bowling with better people,” he said. “And when you bowl with better bowlers, it makes you a better bowler.”
Among those Bertke now bowls with is Shannon Pluhowsky, who has earned the distinction of being the GDUSBC women’s bowler of the year eight times, including the 2017-18 season. Pluhowsky posted 10 300 games and 11 800 series last year, including an 868. Former bowler of the year Mike Haggitt is also among Bertke’s teammates. Haggitt qualified to the all-city second team last season.
Like father, like son: Both Curt Rasnic Sr. and his son Curtiss Rasnic Jr. moved up the ranks this year as the elder Rasnic was second on the allcity team — as well as the senior bowler of the year — and Curtiss moved up from second team to first team for the 2017-18 season.