DW Drops Homecoming Game to Mabton, 28-8

DAYTON-The Dayton-Waitsburg football team jumped out to an early 6-0 lead against Mabton on Friday in their homecoming game here. But penalties again slowed DW down, as Mabton roared back and won big, 28-8/

In the first quarter, DW quarterback Brayden Miller hit Shaun Evans for a 24-yard touchdown pass to give his team the early lead. After a failed two-point conversion, Mabton came back with a TD of their own and led 7-6 after one quarter.

The Vikings scored twice in the second. However, Miller was able to put two more points on the board for DW with a sack of Mabton's quarterback in the endzone, giving the home team a safety.

DW was penalized 11 times in the game for 117 yards. The team also lost three fumbles and had one pass intercepted.

"A frustrating loss to Mabton," said DW Coach Troy Larsen. "Again, outside of passing yardage, DW lead in every category Friday night. Our penalties are unacceptable, and it is really hurting us. Every score Mabton had was after a 15-yard DW penalty, and we have our heads down instead of moving onto the next play."

Late in the game, Miller was ejected after being penalized for a late hit. Because of the ejection, Miller will miss this week's game against Liberty Christian.

"Miller didn't make a bad play. He was just a little late when he hit the pile," said Larsen. "But when you have so many penalties as a team, you start getting some bad calls, and that was one of them."

Larsen was encouraged by the play of Miller and running back/receiver Chris Andrews Friday night.

"We did have some great play from Miller at QB and his DE spot, as he tallied our first safety of the year on a QB sack. And Miller did a great job at QB scrambling away instead of taking a sack, and made some smart throws down the field Friday night," Larsen Said. "Chris Andrews also had a great game with over 250 all-purpose yards, while making two or three highlight reel type catches."

For the game, Miller completed seven of 17 pass attempts for 78 yards. He also had one interception. Damien Johnson rushed the ball 16 times for 70 yards, and miller had 13 runs for 60 yards.

Andrews seven passes in the game for 78 yards.

DW travels to Liberty Christian this week for a Friday night game, which starts at 7 p.m.

"This week against Liberty Christian we are going to take advantage of our most physical player Jarred Williams and move him to fullback, while moving Chris Andrews to QB in the absence of Miller," Larsen said. "I am looking forward to see how we respond, and I expect a clean game with few penalties."

Mabton  7 - 14  7  0 - 28

DW        6  2  0  0 - 8

DW - Evans 24 yd pass from Miller (run failed).

Mabton - Gonzalez 18 yd pass from Zavala (Olivares kick).

DW - Safety Miller sack of Zavala

Mabton - Morales 51 yd pass from Zavala (Olivares kick).

Mabton - Zavala 12 yd run (Olivares kick).

Mabton - Torres 4 yd fumble return (Olivares kick).

Mabton, DW

First Downs:  11, 10

Rushes-yards: 29-7, 44-99

Passing yards: 256, 98

Passes (att-comp-int): 23-13-2, 20-9-1

Punts-yds: 4-37.8, 4-23.3

Fumbles-lost: 4-0, 8-3

Penalties-yards: 12-90, 11-117

Individual Statistics:

RUSHING - Mabton: Zavala 9-48-1, Gonzalez 6-23, Espinoza 7-19, Garcia 1-(-2), Team 6-(-81); DW: Johnson 16-70, Andrews 8-(-12), Miller 13-60, LaRue 5-(-2), Team 2-(-18).

PASSING - Mabton: Zavala 13-23-2, 256 yards, 2 TD's; DW: Miller 7-17-1, 78 yards, 1 TD; LaRue 2-3-0, 20 yards.

RECEIVING - Mabton: Morales 7-148-1, Espenoza 5-90, Gonzalez 1-18-1; DW: Evans 1-24-1, Johnson 1-(-4), Andrews 7-78.