DW Clinches EWAC League Title With 49-6 Win Over Kittitas

KITTITAS – The first-ever football championship trophy in the new Eastern Washington Athletic Conference was captured emphatically by Dayton-Waitsburg on Friday night. DW traveled more than three hours to get here, and overwhelmed the previously undefeated Coyotes, 49-6.

The win gives DW a 6-0 record in EWAC play with one game remaining. Even if they were to lose Friday night's game against 1-6 Liberty Christian, DW would still retain the league title, since they have beaten both of the teams who have one league loss: Kittitas and Tri-Cities prep. Those two teams play each other Friday.

According to DW coach Troy Larsen, in a playoff seeding round, on either Nov. 4 or 5, his team will play the winner of this week's Tonnasket-Lake Roosevelt game, which will decide the District 6 championship. The date, time and location of the seeding game have not yet been established.

DW took the opening kickoff against Kittitas Friday and marched down the field to the Kittitas 10-yard line. But they then turned the ball over on a fumble. The DW defense proved they were too much for the Coyote offense however, and they quickly forced a punt.

On DW's next drive, receiver Tanner Bren converted on a 42-yard pass play to put his team up 6-0. DW would score three more times in the first quarter. Cal Martin caught a nine-yard pass from Dunn for the second touchdown, which was followed by a 22-yard Dunn-to-Bren TD completion. Running back Ben Kleck ran the ball in from 17 yards out, to put DW up 28-0.

According to Larsen, both teams had difficulty running the ball due to the condition of the field. "It was soft and mushy," he said. "And it got worse as the night went on."

So quarterback Jacob Dunn launched a passing attack that resulted in by far his best night through the air this year. In the third quarter, Bren caught his third TD pass of the game: a 21-yarder from Dunn. Later in the quarter, Dunn hit Travis Crockett from 39 yards out for a score.

"Dunn had great pass protection," said Larsen, "and he was picking them apart pretty good."

Larsen said that because of the difficult running conditions, Crockett was used mostly as a slot receiver. And because of his success scoring this year, Kittitas double-teamed him the entire game. That created opportunities for DW's other receivers.

"Bren had some fantastic catches," Larsen said. "He was really fun to watch."

Larsen added, "When they keyed on Travey, we showed them how much strength and depth we have at the receiver position."

The coach also had high praise for his defense. "The D-line was probably the story of the game," he said. "They stopped the run cold. They (Kittitas) got one long pass play when a running back got free (for Kittitas's only score)." Otherwise, Larsen said, the Coyote passing game was shut down as well. DW also forced six turnovers. Dunn had two interceptions, and Bren had one.

For the game, Dunn completed 23 of 30 passes for 439 yards and five touchdowns. He threw one interception.

Bren had seven catches for 170 yards and three TDs. Crockett had eight catches for 113 yards and a TD. Nic Kitselman had four catches for 86 yards.

Running back Ben Kleck had two catches for 42 yards. He also carried the ball 13 times for 113 yards and a TD.

DW 28-0-14-7  49

Kittitas 0-0-6-0  6

DW - Bren 42 yd. pass from Dunn  (run failed)

DW - Martin 9 yd. pass from Dunn (run failed)

DW - Bren 22 yd. pass from Dunn  (Martin run)

DW - Kleck 17 yd. run  (Martin run)

DW - Bren 21 yd. pass from Dunn  (J. Adams kick)

Kittitas - Lael 49 yd. pass from Anderson  (run failed)

DW - Crockett 39 yd. pass from Dunn (J. Adams kick)

DW - Martin 4 yd. run  (J. Adams kick)

Team Statistics:

Dayton Waitsburg - Kittitas (Kittitas statistics were unavailable)

First Downs 21

Rushing 24 - 168 yds.

Passing 439 yds.

Passes (att - comp - int)  30 - 23 - 1

Punts-yards  1 - 45

Fumbles-lost 1-1

Penalties-yards  11-95

Individual Statistics:

RUSHING - DW: Kleck 13-113-1, Martin 2-10-1, Kitselman 1-8, Crockett 4-2, Dunn 4-35, Team 5- -22.

PASSING – Dunn 23-30-1-439-5.

RECEIVING - Kitselman 4-86, Crockett 8-113-1, Bren 7-170-3, 2-28-1, Kleck 2-42.