Dayton Falls To Desales, 15-14

DAYTON - Dayton Bulldogs scored the first touchdown of Friday's game in Walla Walla, but DeSales' defense and late offensive moves in the game gave the Irish a slim victory, 15-14.

The first half of the game showed some good defense from both sides of the field. Right before the buzzer with about one minute left in the first quarter, Colton Bickelhaupt hit Wyatt Frame for 31 yards and earned a first down at the 3-yard line. Frame ran the ball in two plays later, leading 6-0 at the start of the second.

The Irish did make two substantive turnovers in the first quarter that put the Bulldogs on guard.

A regular problem plaguing the Bulldogs' season has been its kicking skills and Friday night's first touchdown revealed another missed kick.

The second quarter opened with a ton of laundry on the field. Dayton was repeatedly called for offsides as its defense continued to hold off DeSales from scoring. Lowden Smith made an incredible stop of the Irish with about 6 minutes left in the second quarter, followed by another flag on Dayton for offsides again, right before the end of the half.

Right before the half, Desales runningback Luke Fazzari had a great carry right before the half to the 7-yard line and later he took it all the way with 1:16 left in the half, bringing the score to 6-6. The kick did not go easily for Dayton, with flags again for offside penalties. Finally, DeSales passed it in, bringing the score to 8-6, DeSales.

The first half ended with Bulldog Bickelhaupt catching the kick and making a great run down the field with about one minute left. However, the Irish defense put up all sorts of blocks. At one point, Bickelhaupt even made an impressive jump over an Irish player, leading to a penalty call. Failing to sprint out, Bickelhaupt couldn't gain much ground and fouls against Dayton kept pushing back its yardage.

DeSales played tough through the second half and the Bulldog defense stayed right on the Irish. Neither team lit up the board with any points that quarter.

Dayton's Isaiah Lambert in the fourth quarter found offensive help and made an easy touchdown, followed by a two-point conversions, giving Dayton a 14-6 lead over the Irish. The Irish pulled out all the stops, with a 20-yard pass and a 75-yard march that brought the score to a tie, 14-14 with just 3:23 left.

The extra point was Desales' for the taking, and the team hit it for the 15-14 win.

Dayton had 57 rushing yards and 220 total yards of offense Friday night. It's record is now 2-2 and plays away at Asotin this Friday.