RENO - When the schedule came out, this was one game Dayton High's football team expected to win.
The odds evened out in a hurry when starters Houston Berntson (ankle) and Kyle Onstott (knee) were unable to play. It forced the Dust Devils to play players in different positions, and after a while, Wooster was able to expose them.
Dayton scored twice in the first 4 minutes 50 seconds, but Wooster rallied to grab a 24-21 nonleague victory at Joe Mac Sellers Field Saturday afternoon.
Dayton, which has lost three straight by a total of 15 points, dropped to 2-4 overall. Dayton hosts Elko Friday. Wooster, which is playing as an independent, improved to 2-4.
"We didn't tackle well; didn't wrap guys up," Dayton coach Rick Walker. "It was the same thing at South Tahoe (24-23 loss). We had guys running right by the play. They were playing hard. We were moving guys around a lot. I was proud of the effort they gave. We only suited up 21 guys today."
Wooster ran off 24 straight points. The Colts scored their final points of the game with 10:32 left on a 1-yard run by Sam Klippenstein. Rick Solorio's PAT made it 24-14. Klippenstein's score capped a 70-yard, 15-play drive. The Colts converted three third downs and one fourth down on the drive. The Colts kept pounding away between the tackles.
Conner Oliver bobbled the ensuing kick-off, but got the ball up to the 39. From there it took Dayton nine plays to get to the end zone. Kage Walker, who completed 14 of 29 for 147 yards, completed a 15-yard pass to Logan Jones to the Colts' 44. Two plays later, Walker scrambled 17 yards to the Wooster 22, hurdling an upright defender in the process. Three plays after Oliver got a first down at the 11, Walker and Jones hooked up for a 10-yard score. Oliver's PAT made it 24-21 with 6:03 left.
The Dust Devils' defense stopped Wooster twice and found itself with one more opportunity to tie or go ahead with 1:33 left.
Starting at his own 41, Walker completed a 12-yard pass to Oliver up to the Wooster 47. Walker hit Jones for a 10-yard pick-up to the Wooster 37. The Dust Devils lost the ball on downs at the Wooster 36 when Walker, under pressure, threw incomplete passes on third and fourth down.
The first half, or at least the first quarter, belonged to Dayton.
Dayton opened the game with an onside kick and recovered at the Wooster 46. Seven plays later, Walker and Jones hooked up for a 13-yard scoring pass and a 7-0 lead.
Dayton again recovered an onside kick at the Wooster 45. The drive bogged down at the Colts' 34.
Walker said he tried the kicks because of the Colts' alignment.
"They were in a V set-up," Walker said. "They were tight in the middle. The guys on the end were backing off."
Wooster's offense finally got on the field, but the drive didn't last long as Connor Nielson's wobbly pass was picked off by Oliver at the Wooster 20 and returned 10 yards. Oliver scored on the next play.
That set the stage for Wooster's big comeback.
"We came back pretty well," Wooster coach Gray Levy. "We didn't lose our composure. I think they got a little tired. I noticed it at the end of the first half."