Flyers lose first at home this season

DAYTON — The Dayton Flyers added another chapter to a season of frustration on a windswept day at Welcome Stadium on Saturday.

The Flyers couldn’t take advantage of three Drake turnovers as the Bulldogs got out of town with a 28-17 victory, their second in the last three tries on the Flyers home fifield.

Dayton ( 3-5, 1-3) lost for the fifirst time at home this season, leaving no margin for error in a bid to avoid back-to-back losing seasons.

The Flyers got offff to a fast

start less than four minutes into the game. A Sean Smith punt pinned Drake inside their own 5-yard line, and Tim Simon intercepted a pass and returned it to the 2-yard line.

It only took t wo plays from there as Richie Warfield bounced off a tackle and into the end zone for a quick 7- 0 lead.

Drake (4-2, 3-1) got even on a two-yard TD run by Drew Lauer and then early in the second quarter, the Flyers reclaimed the lead on a 20-yard fifield goal by Joseph Bruni.

That lead was short-lived as the visitors jumped in front for good on the fifirst of two touchdown passes from Grant Kraemer to Stephen Doran.

Dayton was down 21-10 early in the fourth quarter when quarterback Jack Cook fumbled a snap inside the Flyers’ 10-yard line. The Bulldogs recovered the miscue, and Lauer added insult to injury with a 12- yard TD run the next play.

The Flyers cut the lead to 28-17 on a quarterback sneak by Cook with 11 minutes to play, and the Dayton defense got the ball back twice down the stretch.

David Leisring forced a fumble as Kraemer was headed to the end zone, and Dante Stefanini recovered it at the UD 1-yard line, but the offense turned it over on downs. One play later, Leisring made a diving interception on a tipped pass, but once again the offense couldn’t turn it into points.