Bulldogs Win Tiebreaker In Pomeroy

POMEROY - It may have been hard to imagine earlier in the season, but coach Dean Bickelhaupt and his staff took their Bulldogs to the playoffs Tuesday night after winning both games in the tie breaker for fourth place in the league. "They put it all together tonight," Bickelhaupt said af­ter the series of short games. "We couldn't ask for a bet­ter way to end the regular season."

Dayton started the eve­ning with a game against TOR and scored a 32-yard field goal early in the first half. Bickelhaupt said this out-of-the-gate success got the Bulldogs fired up and they turned unstoppable for the rest of the night. Throughout the season, opponents would take the wind out of Dayton's sails by scoring within the first few minutes. This time, the Bull­dogs turned the tables.

The Nighthawks an­swered with a field goal to tie the game 3-3 at half time. After halftime, TOR scored first, but Dain Henderson scored a touchdown on a run and the game went into dou­ble overtime. By a fluke end­ing what was bound to be an effective drive, Colton Bick­elhaupt

threw a pass intended for Joey Schlachter before it was tipped and received as though fully rehearsed by Hayden Fullerton who was ready in the end zone. The Bulldogs won 15-9.

In the second game against Tri Cities Prep, Bickelhaupt picked off a pass and ran it into the end zone for the touchdown then scored the two-point conversion, beat­ing TCP 8-6. "We outplayed both teams tonight," coach Bickelhaupt said. "They played hard and ended the season on a great note going into next year."

Even if the Bulldogs lose against Colfax, one of the top teams in the state, placing fourth after a largely losing season that didn't reflectthe players' talents and team­work, is a feather in Dayton's cap. The Colfax-Dayton game is at 7 p.m. on Friday in Colfax. In last Friday's game against the Asotin Panthers, the Bulldogs were behind again from the first half that saw the Panthers rack up 16 unanswered points. Dayton didn't start firing on all four cylinders until the second half when the Bulldogs recovered the ball on the opening kickoff when the return was muffed by the Panthers. Dayton quickly found itself in the end zone thanks to a 3-yard run by Josh Frame who rushed 127 yards for 18 carries. But Asotin scored again and added a two-point con­version to make the score 24-6. The Bulldogs came back when Bickelhaupt connected with Wyatt frame for a 13-yard touchdown pass. Again, the Panthers answered with a touchdown to leave the score at 30-14.