The Dayton Dust Devils capitalized on Sparks' turnovers and played ferocious defense to shutout the Railroaders 27-0 Friday night at Dust Devil Stadium.
Dayton's defense forced three fumbles and intercepted a pass while holding the Railroaders' offense to a miserly 60 total yards in the first half. The Dust Devils were able to turn three Railroader turnovers into scores.
The Railroaders could only manage 17 yards on the ground in the first half against Dayton's defensive onslaught, with tailback Henry Banks carrying the ball nine times for six yards.
Dayton opened the scoring when Kyle Onstott ran for 15 yards with 52 seconds remaining in the first quarter. The eight play drive started on Dayton's 21. After finding the middle of the line clogged for most of the quarter, Dayton spread the Sparks defense with a pitch to Onstott to the wide side of the field for eight yards. And after that, the Dust Devils found the going a little easier. Quarterback Kage Walker scrambled for 24 yards, Onstott carried twice for 13, and a facemask penalty against the defense put the ball deep in Railroader territory and set up the Onstott score.
Sparks managed to gain 20 yards on its next possession, but a fumbled snap gave Dayton the ball on the Sparks 43. Onstott rumbled 28 yards through a big hole to the Sparks' 15 on the next play. Walker then hit Conner Oliver over the middle two plays later for the score. Oliver's PAT attempt was no good, but the Dust Devils held a 13-0 advantage.
Dayton tried an onside kick unsuccessfully, but got the ball back quickly as Banks fumbled on Sparks first play. Walker completed passes to Onstott and Oliver before Onstott carried three times for 31 yards, scoring from the nine. Walker added the two-point conversion on a keeper and Dayton was up 21-0.
The luck of the Railroaders got worse as Martin Jordan's pass was intercepted by T.J. Harnar on the first play of the next possession. Dayton couldn't capitalize as Walker threw an interception of his own but the Railroaders managed to give the ball right back. Jordan connected with Doug Chinchilla on a shovel pass, but the Dayton defense knocked the ball loose. Sean deRubertis covered the fumble on the Sparks 22-yard line. Dayton needed just three plays to score as Onstott carried twice for 18 yards, scoring from the five with 5:23 left in the half, giving Dayton a 27-0 lead.
Sparks had the only scoring threat in the second half driving to the Dayton 23. A Tyler Firestone interception of a pass from Geovanni Vasquez at the five-yard line, ended the Railroaders threat, sealing the shutout.
"The defense was outstanding tonight," said Dayton coach Rick Walker.
"Our linebacker play was the best its been the entire year. Those kids stepped up and did a great job. We really took them out of their run game and they couldn't get anything established. I don't know how many first downs they had, but other than big play first downs, it wasn't many. Everybody stepped up. I thought our defensive ends, Cameron McGifford and Ty Minor were outstanding tonight. Sean deRubertis, our middle linebacker had the game of his career."
Onstott had one of his best nights of the season as well, rushing for 126 yards and two touchdowns on 25 carries.
Dayton now 3-5 record and 2-4 in league play travels to Spring Creek on Friday.