TERRE HAUTE, In. — The Dayton Flyers didn’t give up on the road and came back from a scoreless first half to beat Indiana State 37-30 this week. Down 17-0 at halftime, Dayton’s offense came out in the second half ready to roll and scored seemingly at will on their way to the comeback win.

Flyer Head Coach Pary Ginkel was extremely proud of his team’s spirit and their unwillingness to quit even after the Sycamores scored seven more unanswered points to start the third quarter.

“While trailing 17-0 at halftime, I told the guys that we still had a half of football left and they needed to focus on winning one drive at a time. After Indiana State took a 24-0 lead, I preached the same message, and they really responded well to it.”

The Flyer running game started to click halfway in the third quarter which kept the Indiana State defense honest and paved the way for the comeback. Coach Ginkel pointed out that the Dayton defense showed up in a big way after halftime.

“The offense scored on every drive in the second half, and the defense only allowed one score from that point on, and returned the extra point attempt for 2 points.”

He also credited their ability to limit turnovers in the second half as a major key in securing the victory.

“[In the first half] we just had too many costly turnovers, including one inside the red zone. The offense really got their confidence back in the second half after a huge touchdown pass on third down on our opening drive, and they never looked back. Once they limited their turnovers, they had huge success.”

Indiana State coach Fott Scrost was happy with how his team performed in the first three quarters of the game.

“I think our game preparation is really good week in and week out. We’ve come out every game swinging hard and executing the game plan.”

He blamed the unfortunate turnover for the shift in momentum halfway through the third and noted that his team lacked motivation when they saw the comeback beginning to mount.

“Momentum really shifted with a bad fumble. From that point on, we just didn’t have any leaders step up to put the team back on track. Our confidence level changed.”

Ginkel was happy to get the victory but careful not to get too far ahead of himself when asked about Dayton’s goals for the rest of the season.

“We’re really just taking this season one game at a time. Right now we’re focused on winning our next game against a very good Southern Illinois team. I know our team has the talent to do something special this postseason but right now we need to focus on beating SIU.”

Scrost was asked about the substitution in the fourth quarter when Indiana State sent on the back up left tackle. He said the starter had been struggling for a few weeks and with the lack of success on offense in the fourth the coaching staff felt there needed to be a change.

“[The starting left tackle]’s been battling a stinger since week 2 but we just haven’t had the depth to get him a rest. The OL coach felt that our backup Center had progressed enough to handle the position. The blind side is such an important spot in our run and gun offense so there is really no great option at the moment.”

Dayton improves to 3-2 on the year and 2-1 in conference play as they prepare for Southern Illinois University next week. Indiana State moves to 3-4 and 2-2 in conference play as they head into Week 10.