Dogs Will Need To Play ‘Iron Man Football’

DAYTON

- The 2011-

2012 school year was

Dayton's most suc­cessful year on the boys' side of athletics in quite some time, with a state tourney ap­pearance in basketball and a near-miss in football.

The same leading play­ers- mostly seniors-filled out the rosters of both teams. Now that the likes of skilled players Colton Bickelhaupt, Hayden Fullerton and Joey Schlachter, and massive line­man Kroft Sunderland have moved on, this year's admit­tedly short-handed, 23-man Dayton football squad will have to play "iron-man foot­ball" if they hope to have a chance of repeating last year's success.

Lowden Smith returns from an injury-riddled soph­omore campaign (broken wrist, injured knee) to take over the quarterback spot held previously by Bickelhaupt.

Smith's coach, third-year head man Dean Bickelhaupt describes him as "a very ath­letic, smart kid."

"He's a pitcher on the baseball team, he throws the baseball hard and can throw the football too," Bickelhaupt noted with a chuckle. "That's why I decided to put him at the quarterback position. He was my fullback last year. He's a hard-nosed kid. He'll take guys on. He's tough- mannered and got that foot­ball mentality."

Bickelhaupt plans to use a two-back offensive set and use Smith to run a good bit of option.

"I'd say at the start of the season we'll run 70 percent (of the time), throw 30 per­cent," said Bickelhaupt. "As the season goes on, we might throw a little more. We'll see how we progress. The reason I put this run offense in three years ago was to get this men­tality established that football is smash-mouth. I think it's helped turn this program around a little bit."

Lining up in the back field behind Smith will be senior fullback Kane Hackett and se­nior halfback Isaiah Lambert. Junior Ryan Proctor will also see time at fullback.

"(Hackett) played random­ly last year, but he's a hitter and he's pretty quick," noted Bickelhaupt. "Ryan Proctor is a hard-nosed kid who just likes to fly around and hit people. I call (Lambert) my little spark plug, because he kind of ignites us. He's got this fiery attitude. He'll be a leader this year. He's quick. He's catty. He can see the holes and get through them. And he's added 15 pounds this year, so he'll really help us back there."

Senior Wyatt Frame and junior Christian Warner hold down the edges of the offense filling the two receiver spots.

Bickelhaupt calls Frame, who plays the slot receiver/ wing position on the weak side, his "go-to-guy".

"(Frame's) got great speed and he can really go up and get the ball," said Bickel­haupt. "He's very athletic and my offense will work a lot of stuff to him."

Warner, last year's junior varsity quarterback, is like­wise referred to by his coach as "very quick, with good hands, and he will work very hard for you." He lines up wide opposite the field from Frame.

Dayton's offensive line is a mixed six-three seniors start alongside three sophomores.

Bickelhaupt says the core of his line is senior guard Alex Naylor and senior tackle Chris Conley. Naylor has started since his sophomore season and Conley started last year.

"Naylor's the most solid line kid," said Bickelhaupt, "He's hard-nosed and smart. It's nice to have guys like that, because when you lose Kroft (Sunderland), he's kind of the next guy to step up and take Kroft's spot by helping other line kids. He's like another coach on the field."

The rest of the line in­cludes sophomore center Stevie Gonzalez, sophomore guard Andrew Mendoza and sophomore tackle Cody Schneider. Lining up along­side them is senior tight end Dakota Hayes.

On defense the Bulldogs run what Bickelhaupt calls a 33-stack. The defense fea­tures three down linemen with three linebackers set up directly behind them, not over the gaps. Bickelhaupt says the purpose of this is to keep the offense guessing as to which gap the linebackers are con­trolling.

Bickelhaupt added, "It's more of a gap shooting de­fense than a gap controlling defense."

The 3-3 front frees the un­dersized, but quick Bulldogs to utilize five defensive backs and their speed.

"We don't have (the size of) a Kroft Sunderland or Joey Schlachter this year," said Bickelhaupt. "This 3-3 stack is built for quicker guys. It's just something I thought would work for our person­nel."

The Bulldogs will not have a chance to catch their breaths much this year. Every starter on offense except Schneider will also start on defense.

The starting front three are Conley, Mendoza, and Naylor, with Mendoza at nose tackle. Sophomore Levi Laib will spell them and provide breathers for the offensive line as well.

A starter on both sides last year, Mendoza comes into the 2012 campaign "in-shape and bulked up 10 to 15 pounds" according to Bickelhaupt. Bickelhaupt expects Men­doza to be a disrupting force inside.

Directly behind Conley and Naylor are outside line­backers Johnny Sanchez and Hackett. Proctor sets up at middle linebacker behind Mendoza.

Bickelhaupt describes Sanchez as "a little guy with a lot of heart who will always give you 110 (percent). You couldn't ask for a better kid."

Guy Spallinger, a starter last year at linebacker, will also be in the mix, but he starts the season on the bench fighting a back injury.

Warner, Lambert, Hayes, Frame and Smith roam the defensive backfield for the Bulldogs.

Warner and Lambert are at the corners, Hayes and Frame play safety and quarterback Smith is the nickel back or rover as Bickelhaupt likes to call it.

"Lowden (Smith) will be my little ball-hawker," said Bickelhaupt. "His job is to read where the ball is and run downhill to it."

Bickelhaupt says the team's goal is to finish in the league's top three.

He expects both DeSales and Waitsburg-Prescott to be good, and notes that DeSales returns most of its skill kids from last year's state playoff team. He expects Asotin, Tri-cities Prep and Tekoa- Oakesdale-Rosalia to all be better because they were all so young last year.

While Bickelhaupt is pleased with his team, he is disappointed with its sched­ule. His preference is for three non-conference op­ponents at the beginning of the slate, followed by a bye week before the conference schedule starts. This year, the Bulldogs play two out- of-league foes then dive into five-straight weeks of league opponents before getting their bye.

"I liked it when I got my non-league games and then the bye, and now they got me the bye clear down at the bot­tom (of the schedule) when I don't need it," Bickelhaupt said.

On the plus side the Bull­dogs get all three of their traditional Blue Mountain League rivals at home in De­Sales, Waitsburg-Prescott and Asotin.

"It is big having those three here. That's definitely a good thing," said Bickelhaupt.

Dayton Football Roster

Tabin McCaffie

Lowden Smith

Guy Spalinger

Christan Warner

Johnny Sanchez

Wyatt Frame

Derick McLeary

Robby Spink

Colton West

Ryan Proctor

Dakota Hayes

Isiaha Lambert

Kane Hackett

Andrew Mendoza

Levi Liab

James Vance

Cody Snider

Sevie Gonzalez

Chris conley

Robert Loper

Alizinko Gonzalez

Brett Darling

Tyler Hopwood

Austin Kimmons