Story by
Dayton Daily News, Ohio
Dayton football: Centerville grad leading Flyers in tackles
- Story byDayton Daily News, Ohio
- Dayton football: Centerville grad leading Flyers in tackles
The Valparaiso football game notes, distributed to the media and published on the school's website each week, provide a unique look at many of the players on the roster. There are biographical details fans would never find in a box score.
"Alex Prine had a close encounter with a black bear in Canada."
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"Alex Goworowski has never seen Star Wars, Rocky, Harry Potter, Indiana Jones or Caddyshack."
"Bryson Winbush's biggest fear is big statues."
None of these facts will show up on the scouting report for the Dayton Flyers (7-1, 4-1), who play Valparaiso (4-4, 3-2) at noon Saturday, Nov. 7, at Welcome Stadium.
Valparaiso players also probably don't know much about their Dayton counterparts, such as junior safety Ross Coppock, a Centerville High School graduate who took a roundabout route to his hometown team.
Dayton recruited Coppock when he was in high school, but he chose Gardner-Webb, a Big South Conference program located in Boiling Springs, N.C.
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Coppock appeared in two games as a freshman and six games last season. He transferred to Dayton in time to participate in the spring practice period.
"I wanted to come back home," Coppock said. "There's no better place than Dayton. It has a rich culture of winning and wanting to win. I met with coach (Trevor) Andrews. I loved the coaches and wanted to be a part of this."
Coppock had seven tackles on Saturday in a 44-34 victory at Stetson. He leads the team with 58 tackles in eight games and also has an interception and a fumble recovery.
"Ross made some great strides in the spring picking up our defense," Andrews said. "It was good for him to get his feet wet in the spring and then go through it again in training camp and put himself in a position to play in a rotation, and due to some injuries, he's got to play the lion's share of snaps for us on defense this year. We're fortunate that we've had him here because we felt like he was a capable starter coming into the year, and he's proven to be that."
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Coppock is one of several players Dayton recruited in high school only to sign them out of the transfer portal.
"Bryce Schondelmyer is a perfect example," Andrews said. "We really wanted him out of high school. He ended up going to Youngstown State. He ends up coming back a couple years later. You never want to close those doors, especially in certain situations. (Cornerback) Jaz Boykin is another one. We recruited him hard out of high school. He ended up going to Indiana. He's here now."
Centerville won the Greater Western Ohio Conference championship when Coppock was a senior in 2023. Now he has a chance to win a Pioneer Football League championship in his first season at Dayton.
The Flyers share first place with Butler (7-2, 4-1) and St. Thomas (7-2, 4-1) with three games to play. Marist (4-5, 3-2) fell out of first place with a 41-40 loss at San Diego on Saturday.
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Valparaiso, which hasn't finished above .500 since 2017, is the most improved team in the PFL. After finishing tied for last a year ago with a 1-7 PFL record, it is tied for fourth with Marist.
Second-year coach Andy Waddle, a Greenon High School and Wittenberg University graduate, led a similar turnaround in his previous head coaching job at Marietta. His offensive coordinator is also a Clark County native, Southeastern High School graduate Reed Florence, who played quarterback at Wittenberg.
Dayton beat Valparaiso 41-10 last season and leads the series 29-5. Valparaiso has lost 10 straight games at Welcome Stadium since a 33-28 victory in 2003.
"Valpo's a significantly improved team," Andrews said. "I think coach Waddle's done an outstanding job — him and Coach Florence. They're Ohio guys, and they've got their guys playing at an extremely high level on both sides of the ball. They can coach, and you can see the buy-in that they're getting from their team right now, which is what I would expect out of them in Year 2. They're kind of where we were in Year 2 a couple of years ago. So they're a dangerous team."
