The Dayton High football team capped off an 9-0 regular season with a 29-20 win at Fernley on Friday.
Dayton struck first on Brandon Aguilera's 25-yard field goal in the first quarter. Fernley had a drive going, but gave the ball away on a fumbled snap. The Dust Devils went on to take advantage, driving 64 yards and scoring on Aguilera's 1-yard run to make it 10-0.
Right before halftime, Austin Wilson blocked a punt and fell on the ball in the end zone to pull the Vaqueros to within 10-7 at halftime. Fernley took a 14-10 on its opening drive of the third quarter when Travis McCurry caught a 19-yard touchdown pass from Kyle Thompson.
But Erik Hopper responded for Dayton, running 72 yards for a touchdown to give the Dust Devils a 17-14 lead.
Dayton took a 23-14 lead in the fourth quarter when Travis Wood scored on a five-yard bootleg run. Fernley was forced to go for it on fourth down in its territory and Dayton took over after a sack at the Vaqueros 31-yard line. That set up Aguilera's 19-yard TD run to make it 29-14.
Fernley responded when Thompson hit McCurry for a 55-yard pass. That set up Dale Proctor's 5-yard scoring run. The Vaqueros then failed on the two-point conversion and then their onside kick failed, sealing the win for the Dust Devils.
Thompson passed 6 of 13 for 118 yards and Proctor ran for 49 yards on 9 carries. Wood completed 13 of 25 passes for 178 yards. Dayton's defense held Fernley to 196 total yards (122 passing, 74 rushing).
"We played good at times and I thought we moved the ball pretty well," Dayton coach Rick Walker said. "They (Fernley) were dangerous on the defensive end of the ball.
"We used up a lot of clock on those drives and it kept our offense on the field. We dropped a few that kind of hurt us. Travis does a god job finding the open guy."
Walker said the difference in the game was his team doing what it practices every day.
"Sometimes the kids try and overthink stuff," he said. "This game isn't rocket science. We go to the stuff that we talk about and go through."