Close, Yet So Far

STANFIELD, Ore. - With less than a minute before halftime, the Dayton Bulldogs ended a steady march through Stanfield territory and arrived at the half-yard line, ready to pound it into the end zone.

The score was 12-7 in the Tigers' favor, but the momentum was all on Day­ton's side. A touchdown would mean going into the break with a lead and the much-needed confidence that comes with it, Dayton head coach Dean Bickel­haupt said.

But then the eleventh Bulldog, a freshman, was led to believe there were too many players on the field and ran across the sideline while his team was setting up for the snap. When the coaches discovered he was needed near the line of scrimmage, the play was just about to get under way. The player was making his move to go back in. They tried to stop him, but it was too late.

The whistle blew and the Bulldogs were handed a 5-yard penalty for the "illegal procedure," putting them back on the 6-yard line. With 6 seconds on the clock and no time outs, those 5 extra yards suddenly became an insurmountable distance, Bickelhaupt said.

"We tried to throw but we took a sack," he said. "We could have been ahead at half time. The missed score really hurt us."

In the locker room at half time, Bickelhaupt tried to "refocus" his players. He told them not to dwell on the lost opportunity and come out with renewed intensity in the second half, and they did. "They played hard," the coach said.

But in the end, "it was hard to come back from that," Bickelhaupt said. "We have a number of young kids and penalties are going to happen."

The inexperience, mixed with bad luck, returned in the second half. On Stan­field's next possession, Bulldog Andrew Mendoza intercepted a pass on the 50- yard line and for a fleeting moment, Dayton regained their verve.

"I thought, 'Alright, let's march it down the field and score,'" Bickelhaupt said about the ground game playbook that worked for Dayton all night long, thanks to running back Lowden Smith's 25 carries for 162 yards by the final whistle.

But the march did not materialize. Dayton fum­So bled and Stanfield ran the pigskin back to the Bulldogs' end zone for a 40- yard touchdown. The kick was no good, but the Tigers increased their margin 18- 7.

Still, the Bulldogs refused to let go in the fourth quarter, staged another suc- cessful ground assault and scored on a 9-yard TD run from Smith with 11 minutes and 53 seconds on the clock. Dayton's kick went wide, but the Bulldogs were now knocking on the door, 18-13.

Stanfield would have none of it, scoring one final time on a big 43-yard run with 9 minutes 51 seconds to go in the game, pushing ahead 24-13, even without the extra point for the final score.

Bickelhaupt came away from Friday's game with mixed emotions. He said he was proud of the way the boys played, especially without running back Guy Spellinger, who broke his collar bone in practice and will probably be out for five weeks.

He was also encouraged by the Bulldogs' ability to move the ball down the field and put points on the board. Dayton produced 209 yards total on offense, compared to Stanfield's 259. Freshman Ben Kleck had 7 carries for 26 yards.

Even the shortcomings in red zone executions can be fixed with time for a young team like Dayton, Bickelhaupt said.

But now the head coach is worried about injuries. Quarterback Christian War- ner, whom he said per- formed solidly during the game, hurt his hip halfway through the fourth quarter and it's uncertain if he'll start in Friday's first impor- tant league game against Asotin on the banks of the Snake River.

With just 19 players, the team has fewer than a handful of substitutes on the bench. It's normal to get dings here and there, but tough to lose players in key positions.

"I hope and pray we have enough kids to keep going," he said.