The Dayton offense has yet to click, but that didn't keep it from taking its third-consecutive victory Friday night in a 12-6 overtime home game against Battle Mountain.
The Dust Devils used a 10-yard pass from junior quarterback Kage Walker in the extra period to Dusty Smith on a fade route to grab the victory and start the season 3-0.
Walker went 5-for-14 passing for 43 yards and fellow quarterback Connor Conroy went 5-of-20 for 60 yards.
Both teams are usually stout runners, but neither could get the ground game going. Battle Mountain's leading rusher was James Pettigrew, had just 56 yards on 13 carries. Dayton was led by Kyle Onstott with 41 yards on 12 carries.
The Dayton defense, Walker said, was a big reason for Battle Mountain's low yardage. Walker keyed in on the Longhorns' tight end during this week's practice and remained focus on him during the game as they blanketed him from the line of scrimmage with two defenders. Linebacker Ricky Bodine was in the right place when sat under the tight end's route and picked off a pass for a 31-yard return for the Dust Devils' first score, which tied the game 6-6 after the missed field goal.
"Ricky Bodine had the game of his life, had some serious big plays," Walker said.
McQueen 35, Douglas 32
After pasting Douglas for 21 unanswered points to start the game, the McQueen football team appeared well on its way to an easy win, taking a 28-3 lead into halftime Friday night at McQueen.
The Lancers, though, had to hold off a furious second-half rally from the Tigers though, needing a last-second 21-yard touchdown pass from Joey Sorgani to Watson Asi to take a 35-32 win over the Tigers.
The end of the game was a far cry from the start. After McQueen drove 80 yards for a touchdown on the opening possession of the game, the Lancers recovered a fumble on the Tigers' first play from scrimmage.
Douglas' first drive of the second half stalled but the Tigers came up with the defensive stop. Zack Williams completed a 10-yard touchdown pass to Austin Neddenriep on the Tigers' next drive, setting the score at 21-10.
After another defensive stop, Johnny Pollack had a number of big carries on Douglas' next drive, including one for 37 yards, to set up a 10-yard touchdown pass from Williams to Luis Pina-Duarte. Pollack punched in the two-point conversion to cut McQueen's lead to 28-18.
Another defensive stop set Douglas up for another succesful drive, which culminated in Williams keeping the ball for a one-yard touchdown on fourth-and-goal with 5:51 left in the game.
The Tigers recovered a McQueen fumble on the next drive and parlayed that into another keeper touchdown for Williams from one yard out, giving Douglas the 32-28 lead with 2:07 left.
McQueen put together a brilliant drive, though, going 80 yards in nine plays and ending with Sorgani's pass on fourth down with six seconds left.
Carson wins at Reed invite:
The Carson cross-country teams fared well at the Reed Invitational at Reed High School on Friday dispite several runners returning from sickness.
The varsity boys won the team total in a landslide with a score of 54, while the next closest competitor, Sierra Lutheran, posted a 70.
Richard Shroy finished third (16, minutes 57 seconds), Brent Moyal was ninth (18:23), Nick Schlager 10th (18:30), David McMasters 15th (19:18) and Brandon Buonacorsi 19th (19:31).
On the girls side, the Senators fell just one point short of first with a 62 as Bishop Manogue took the title.
Katy Mcfarren finished fifth (22:35), Ericka Sosa 10th (22:51), Evan Hollet 12th (23:05), Amanda Gordon 17th (23:43), Amber Karnofel 25th (24:55), and Hailey Ward 33rd (25:48).
On the boys junior varsity, Carson took first with a 41, while Galena came in second at 55.
Joshua VanSickle took first (16:54), while Noah Lopez finished just behind in second (15:01), Joe Ward eighth (15;35), Nick Green 13th (16:05), and Justice Kemp 18th (16:21).
The girls JV only had four runners and couldn't compete as a team. Chelsea Gordon finished seventh (7:47), Ashley Salcedo 24th (20:11), Alexandra Theiss 25th (20:12) and Jenny Llamas 40th (21:42).
Carson will go to a regional meet Satuday at Nevada Union.