Shannon Litz/Nevada Appeal
You would be hard-pressed to find a happier man in the town of Dayton than Rob Turner on Friday night.
Thanks to two touchdown passes from son Jake Turner and a strong defensive effort, the Dust Devils made Turner's coaching debut a success with a 24-14 victory over Lovelock, the defending 2A state champion.
"I'm honestly thrilled to get my first win as a head coach," Turner said. "I'm also proud that my son threw two touchdown passes.
"Lovelock is a good team. I can see them repeating. We have a lot of work to do. I tell them that after every competition at practice. We have a lot of stuff to clean up."
After allowing Lovelock a Jared Jensen TD on the first drive, the Mustangs didn't score again until there was less than three minutes left in the game, and by then the game was essentially over.
"I thought we did pretty well, especially for the first game," said senior Tyler Firestone, a three-year varsity player, who made several key stops during the contest. "Once we figured out how to stop the sweep we were OK."
Firestone was referring to Lovelock's Marcus Tippens, who carried seven times for 74 yards, including a 33-yarder on the first scoring drive. He was held to 15 second-half yards.
"We weren't playing the proper technique (early)," coach Turner admitted. "Our inside guys were playing well, but our ends weren't doing what they were supposed to do."
Lovelock had a chance to extend its lead on the next possession after Firestone fumbled at his own 29. The Mustangs failed to get a first down giving the ball back to Dayton.
Dayton drove 73 yards in nine plays to tie the game at 8 after Sean deRubertis scampered 32 yards for a score and then Austin Fletcher ran for the 2-point conversion.
The key play in the drive was a 11-yard run by Cody Yeater on a third-and-nine situation which gave the Dust Devils a first down at the Lovelock 32.
Lovelock, keeping the ball on the ground, took the ensuing kick-off and drove down to the Dayton 24. Firestone redeemed himself for the fumble and stopped Tippens two straight times, the last stop coming at the 18-yard line.
Lovelock opened the second half by driving down to the Dayton 30, but Seth Montes' fourth-down pass was juggled by Tippens as he was going out of bounds and ruled incomplete.
At that point, the tide turned in Dayton's favor.
After a short gain by Yeater and an incomplete pass, Jake Turner rolled right under pressure and lofted a pass on the right hashmark. Taryn Aguilera came down with the ball around the Lovelock 40 and sprinted the rest of the way for the go-ahead score and a 15-8 lead with 4:17 left in the third period.
"I told the coach (assistant Steve Yeater) that I could get open on the deep fade," Aguilera said. "It was open all the time. They (secondary players) were trying to help with the run and they were doing a lot of blitzing."
"It just made it (the pass) over the defender's hands," said Jake Turner. "It was supposed to be a deep pass, but I was getting a heavy rush and I tried to get rid of it as soon as possible."
Coach Turner credited Aguilera for making a nice play on the ball.
"I don't even know what was called," coach Turner said. "Both of our receivers were in the same area. Taryn timed his jump a little better."
A shanked 16-yard punt by Dillon Wanner set up Dayton's next score.
Taking over at its own 38, Dayton drove 62 yards in eight plays with Jake Turner passing 13 yards to Adan Gomez to make it 21-8 with 9:16 left in the game.
Another Wanner miscue, this time a fumbled snap, set up Dayton's next score.
Dayton took over at the Lovelock 17, but was unable to even get a first down. Gomez came on to boot a 29-yard field goal for a 24-8 lead.
Jensen scored his second TD of the game on the ensuing Lovelock drive to make it 24-14 with 2:40 left. Montes was heavily pressured on the 2-point PAT and was sacked.
Aguilera made another big play on Lovelock's next possession. He picked off a Randolph McLean pass at the Mustang 42 and went in for the score. However a clipping penalty brought the ball back to the Lovelock 36 where the Dust Devils ran out the clock.