Dayton falls just short against Lowry

DAYTON " The last four offensive plays by the Dayton Dust Devils were a microcosm of the entire game and season.

With a chance to tie or win the game in the final 73 seconds and facing a first--and-goal from the 9, the Dust Devils' offense couldn't deliver and dropped a 12-6 decision to Lowry Friday night.

The loss dropped Dayton to 3-5 overall and 2-3 in league heading into next week's finale against Fernley.

Here's the final Dayton failure in a nutshell:

- On first and goal, quarterback Connor Conroy (5-for-17, 30 yards) fired a bullet toward Conner Oliver that appeared to be catchable but went through his hands.

Oliver had given the Dust Devils great field position with a 42-yard punt return down to the 9.

- On second down, Conroy overthrew a wide-open Tannar Wood in the left flat.

- On third down, Conroy threw one up for grabs for Oliver without success.

- On fourth down, with the game and a possible playoff berth on the line, Conroy threw another jump ball, this one toward Wood, who went up in the air with the Lowry defender but was unable to come up with the ball.

It was a brutal ending to an offensive performance by the Dust Devils that managed just 117 yards total offense unofficially and collected eight first downs the entire game.

Dayton had one timeout left when it started its last possession, yet coach Rick Walker didn't run the ball, and said he never considered it.

"I didn't have the confidence (to run)," Walker said. "They had nine or 10 guys in the box (at times)."

It's easy to see why Walker lacked confidence. Dayton averaged 2.4 per carry unofficially, and that stat won't win you many games. Neither will 30 yards passing.

What makes it worse is that Dayton's offensive performance wiped out a tremendous effort by the defense, led by Mitch Gilgert, Wood and Nick Bircheff.

"We shut them down after the first quarter," Walker said. "It was a great effort by the defense. I was proud of how they came out and played in the second half. They gave us quite a few chances."

Indeed. Dayton had two possessions start at midfield and one at its 47, and came up empty all three times.

Late in the third quarter, Conroy took a 16-yard sack instead of throwing the ball away, and midway through the final period, Dayton drove to the Lowry 17, but Oliver, on a halfback option, threw an interception at the Lowry 1.

In fact, the only touchdown that Dayton scored all night was a 50-yard interception return by linebacker Ricky Bodine.

Trailing 12-0 midway through the third quarter, Bodine stepped in front of the intended receiver, caught the ball and outraced Lowry players to the end zone to make it 12-6 with 5:20 left.

"I saw the quarterback look at the receiver and just saw it coming," Bodine said. "I think it's one of the best defensive games we've ever had."

Lowry coach Tim Billingsley said he did notice a change in the Dayton defense, especially in the second half.

"They were stunting linebackers quite a bit," said the Lowry coach. "That gave us some problems. We just stuck with our game plan."

That included running the ball with Joel Barton (11 carries, 79 yards) and Ryan Grant (18 carries, 63 yards). The Buckaroos' running game wasn't great, but it did eat up plenty of time off the clock.

Lowry's biggest offensive play came midway through the first quarter when Christian Alcarez broke loose for a 70-yard scoring run to make it 6-0 on the Buckaroos' second possession of the game.

A special teams mistake gave Lowry its second score just 76 seconds later.

The ensuing kick-off after the touchdown was a line drive that went off one of Dayton's up guys and was recovered by Tanner Schmidt at the Dayton 49.

Lowry reached the end zone four plays later, as Grant capped the short march with a 4-yard run to make it 12-0.

All four plays were on the ground. Grant had a 13-yard run and Barton ripped off a 14-yarder.

That's when Dayton's defense started stepping up, but its own offense didn't follow suit.