DAYTON - Bye weeks are usually a blessing for football teams. They can be used to give players a break, mend injuries and sometimes heal mental wounds.
A bye week couldn't have come at a better time for the Dayton Dust Devils. After being trounced 55-6 by Truckee two weeks ago, they used the extra week to see all the things they didn't do (and there were plenty) and how they can move on from it.
"How our schedule came away, I don't think it could have been any better," Dayton coach Rick Walker said. "Obviously, we had to mend some egos, actually we kind of had to chew some butts then mend some egos. I think they responded pretty well. Yesterday (Wednesday) was, I think by far, our best offensive practice we've had all year...
"I think it was huge for us to kind of get the bad taste out of our mouths, understand what we need to do so it doesn't happen again and get that taste out of our mouths and move forward."
The Dust Devils (3-1 Northern 3A, 6-1) travel to Winnemucca today (7 p.m. kickoff) to face Lowry as they look to rebound from their first loss of the season. The biggest question facing them is how do they rebound from a loss as they cling to a possible No. 2 seed in the playoffs, which means delaying what could be an inevitable rematch with the Wolverines?
Dayton failed to get much going after the opening minutes of the first quarter, but the sinking moment for the Dust Devils was when they took a safety after a shotgun snap flew over the head of quarterback Kage Walker. The fluke gave Truckee a 15-6 lead and the onslaught was on from there.
"When that happened, it just went downhill," Dayton safety Connor Conroy. "We were just yelling at each other and nobody was talking. We weren't communicating at all on defense."
Truckee amassed 230 yards and five touchdowns through the air and another 225 yards and TDs rushing. Dayton put up a paltry 170 yards. As a result, Dayton will use more zone coverage on defense and try to spread the ball out more on defense, something that is supposed to be a staple in the Pistol offense it uses.
If coming off a thorough butt whopping isn't enough motivation for the Dust Devils, perhaps a chance to not face Truckee again until the state semifinals will add to it. Dayton needs to beat Lowry (2-2, 4-3) and win the season-finale at Fernley (3-1, 4-3) to secure the second seed and a home playoff game on Nov. 7.
"It would be enough motivation for me," Walker said. "I would have no problem seeing Truckee in the state playoffs, that would be fantastic. If I was a player, that would be enough motivation for me."