Toreros defeat Valparaiso

USD wins their 32nd-straight PFL game with their victory over the Crusaders 42-17 

Chris Spiering / Sports Editor / The USD Vista

The University of San Diego Toreros improved to 4-2 after defeating the Valparaiso University Crusaders 42-17 in the highest-scoring game of the season so far for the Toreros.

After what seemed to be a slow start for the Toreros, an early defensive interception from senior defensive back David Tolbert got things going for USD as the offense capitalized with a touchdown from redshirt senior quarterback Reid Sinnett to junior receiver Alex Spadone. The interception by Tolbert was returned to the Crusader 11 yard line, which set up the one-play score for the Toreros to make the score 7-0. 

USD’s defense was dominant the entire first half, giving up only one field goal by the Crusaders’ kicker, Dimitrios Latsonas. The Crusaders kept trying to run the football, but it just wasn’t working for them in the first half. Starting senior running back Elias Earley ended the first half with negative rushing yards, and the team as a whole finished with a total of two rushing yards as redshirt junior quarterback Chris Duncan ran the ball five times for five yards. 

“We have a great defensive line,” USD junior linebacker Kama Kamaka said. “Those big boys up front really came to play and we stuck to our game plan. I’m happy we played well in the first half.” 

Scoring a season-high 42 points would usually call for a celebration, but since the team didn’t perform as well as they hoped, the Toreros are staying humble.

“I thought Valpo overall outplayed us,” USD football head coach Dale Lindsey said. “Are they as talented as we are? No. But they hustled and worked harder than we did today. We played well last week at Davidson but we were at the bottom of the pile today.” 

Despite the overall lack of offensive performance early on for USD, senior receiver Michael Bandy had himself a great game with eight receptions for 171 yards receiving and three touchdowns. Bandy was a part of the longest play of the day with a 75-yard touchdown reception. Prior to the game, Bandy was just four receptions away from ninth all-time on the total receptions list for USD. He was also 78 yards away from fourth all-time in total receiving yardage for the Toreros. He accomplished both of those feats in the win over Valparaiso. 

The connection between Bandy and Sinnett is unbreakable, as they are almost always on the same page.

“He is actually my roommate,” Sinnett said. “And so we spend a lot of time together. He just does such a good job of preparing each week and putting himself in a good spot. We gameplan a lot to make sure that he gets touches.” 

The Toreros picked things up toward the end of the first half as Sinnett threw one of his five touchdown passes on the day to Bandy for a 50-yard score after Bandy was left wide open on a play-action pass. 

With just under a minute left in the first half, USD was only up 14-3. An eight-yard touchdown reception by Bandy from Sinnett moved the score to 21-3, marking Bandy’s second touchdown catch of the day. Then a fumble by the Crusaders on the following kickoff was recovered by Kamaka on the Valpo 25 yard line. The first play after the turnover, the Toreros successfully completed a trick play where junior backup quarterback Alex Farina threw a pass to junior running back Terrence Smith on a reverse. The following play was another touchdown pass from Sinnett to Spadone for his second touchdown grab of the day with only 30 seconds remaining in the half. The score was 28-3 at halftime. 

In the first half, the Toreros did something you won’t see very often. They completed passes from three different quarterbacks: Sinnett, Farina, and junior Mason Randell. Sinnett had to be removed for a play because his helmet came off on the previous play and Randell came in and completed a pass to senior fullback Zach Nelson. 

The longest play of the game for the Crusaders happened on a 31-yard rush by Earley early on in the third quarter. That play seemed to have opened up the running game for Valpo. The Crusaders scored their first touchdown of the game on that possession by a great play from Duncan, their quarterback. He rolled to the right and broke three Torero tackles and escaped to the end zone from about 12 yards out. The score was 28-10. 

The momentum switched right back to USD as the first play of the next possession was the 75-yard touchdown catch from Sinnett to Bandy to make the score 35-10. 

Valparaiso scored another touchdown on their following possession, and it was once again their quarterback Duncan, who ran it in from six yards out to add to their score, making it 35-17. 

After a punt by USD, the Crusaders tried to get tricky and attempted a fake punt that did not go well for them, as the Torero special teams unit tackled their punter for a 14-yard loss. That set up a 15-yard rush by Sinnett to move the score to 42-17. That was Sinnett’s sixth touchdown of the game with under a minute and a half left in the third quarter. 

That was the last score of the game as the fourth quarter was slow and the Toreros put in their reserves to seal the victory. 

USD now has a 32-game PFL win streak as the Toreros continue to dominate the conference. 

“I think it has a lot to say about our coaches,” Sinnett said. “And how they prep us each week. This conference is getting better and we are doing a good job of continuing to improve and get better talent. We have guys that want to stick around our program and want to win championships.” 

Continuing the PFL streak will only get tougher as USD travels to the University of Dayton next Saturday to take on the Flyers. The Flyers are 4-2 after losing to the Stetson Hatters this past weekend. The next home game for the USD is Saturday, Nov. 2 at 2 p.m. as they host PFL opponent Drake University at Torero stadium.