The Rick Chamberlin era in University of Dayton football opened with a 31-12 win over Central State Sunday in CSU's "Dayton Classic IV" at Welcome Stadium. Chamberlin, a former Flyer All-American and 28-year UD assistant, was leading a team as head coach for the first time on Sunday.

Senior captain Scott Vossler was named the Classic MVP after leading a Dayton defensive effort that allowed just 14 yards rushing. Vossler had seven tackles (six solo), three sacks and a fumble recovery for a touchdown.

Another senior captain, quarterback Rob Florian, threw two touchdown passes and ran for another score to lead the offense. Florian was 17-of-34 passing for 201 yards, and spread his 17 completions amongst seven different receivers. Steve Valentino led the way with four receptions for 63 yards UD's first touchdown. Justin Watkins added three catches for 56 yards and a score. Ben Shappie led the ground attack with 65 yards on 12 carries.

After a scoreless first quarter, UD jumped out to a 14-0 lead but a Central State six-yard TD pass (Jeff Brooks to Daniel Stover) with nine seconds left in the half made it 14-6 at halftime.

A Nick Glavin field goal was the only scoring in the third quarter, making it 17-6 going into the final 15 minutes of play. Watkins caught a 41-yard touchdown from Florian with 9:56 remaining, putting the Flyers up 24-6 and appearing to put the game out of reach.

But Central State came back with its best drive of the game, going 77 yards in five plays. Brooks had a 17-yard touchdown run with 7:53 to go, but a 2-point conversion attempt failed, and Central State couldn't score again.

Vossler fell on the ball for his touchdown with 1:49 left.

Dayton out-gained the Marauders 290 to 195, and averaged 5.1 yards per play compared to 2.9 for CSU.

Nine UD defenders had at least five tackles. Linebacker Joe Reis had eight (three solo) in his first career start. Vossler and fellow end Brandon Wingeier (also in his first start) had six, with safety Kevin Burns and cornerbacks Joe Castaneda and Scott Horcher each had five.

Stover had five catches for 98 yards to lead Central State. Brooks was 14-of-25 for 181 yards.

Dayton is back in action September 13 when 2007 Patriot League champion Fordham visits Welcome Stadium. Game time is 1:00 p.m. ET.

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