Spring Creek runs past Dust Devils

SPRING CREEK - On homecoming night, the Spring Creek football team took the air out of Dayton, literally and figuratively.

Two Spartan program records fell by the wayside Friday and Spring Creek clinched a playoff berth with a 37-15 victory against Dayton.

The win was Spring Creek's fourth in a row and snapped a two-game losing streak to the Dust Devils.

"This was a big week for us," said Spring Creek coach Joel Jund. "We knew if we won, we would clinch a playoff berth. We started out 0-3 in league.

Credit the kids. Credit the coaches for hanging in there. These last four wins have been an incredible ride. We want to keep it going."

Spring Creek senior running back Logan Irvin did something Friday former Spartan running back and the state's all-time leading rusher James Edwards never did - he ran for 410 yards on 44 carries. The previous single game rushing record was 348 yards by Edwards.

The Spartans had 53 offensive plays Friday and Irvin 44 carries were roughly 83 percent of the team's offense. The results were unquestionable.

Also, sophomore kicker Colby Patton set a program record with a 48-yard field goal midway through the fourth quarter to add an exclamation point to the win.

And not lost in the convincing Spring Creek win was another stellar defensive effort, as the Spartans forced three turnovers and kept Dayton scoreless from the 8:29 mark of the second quarter on.

"(Dayton's) a tough team," Jund said. "There's a lot of talent over there. The secret is our offensive line play. It's not who we give the ball to, it's how we block when we run it. Obviously, Logan runs hard, but credit our offensive line and our lead backs."

Other than Patton's record-setting field goal, Irvin accounted for the rest of Spring Creek's scoring with five touchdown runs.

The senior scored on runs of 71 and four yards in the first quarter and on scampers of 14 and 59 in the second. Dayton was still within two scores of the Spartans late in the fourth quarter when Irvin put the game away once and for all with a 50-yard run with 2:38 left in the game.

Other than Irvin, Spring Creek's offense consisted of seven pass attempts - one on a fake punt - and two other running plays.

Dayton played a decent offensive game, but turnovers hurt the Dust Devils at key junctions. Senior Kyle Onstott ran for 180 yards on 25 carries, but fumbled twice in the first half and both times Spring Creek recovered.

On a last-ditch attempt to rally, Dayton quarterback Kage Walker was intercepted by the Spartans Ozzy Steward on a tipped ball and Irvin scored his fifth touchdown on the ensuing possession.

Dayton's two touchdowns were a two-yard run by Onstott in the first quarter, set up by a 77-yard run by Onstott two plays earlier, and a three-yard touchdown run by Conner Oliver, set up by a 34-yard run by Onstott.

But Dayton's offense was rendered ineffective for the final two-plus quarters of the game.

Spring Creek 35, Dayton 15

Dayton 7 8 0 0 - 15

Sp. Creek 15 13 0 9 - 37

Scoring

First Quarter

SC - Irvin 71 run (Archuleta run) 2:58.

SC - Irvin 4 run (Patton kick) 1:24.

D - Onstott 2 run (Oliver kick) 0:41.

Second Quarter

D - Oliver 3 run (Walker pass to DeRubertis) 8:29.

SC - Irvin 14 run (Patton kick) 3:36.

SC - Irvin 59 run (pass fail) 1:24.

Fourth Quarter

SC - Patton 48 field goal, 5:44.

SC - Irvin 50 run (kick fail) 2:38.

Individual Statistics

RUSHING - Dayton: Onstott 25-180; Yeater 3-35; Walker 5-11; Oliver 3-0.

Spring Creek: Irvin 44-410; Spring 1-20; Miller 1-0.

PASSING - Dayton: Walker 5-22-1 90; Onstott 0-1-0 0. Spring Creek: Spring

3-6-1 7; Irvin 0-1-0 0.

RECEIVING - Dayton: Oliver 3-67; Smith 1-18; Jones 1-5. Spring Creek: Moe

1-12; Archuleta 1-10; Miller 1-(-15).