Miners outrun Dust Devils in football action

DAYTON - Shane VanZant, playing in a new position, put on a big-time show Friday night when he rushed for 257 yards and two touchdowns for Dayton High School.

Unfortunately for VanZant and the Dust Devils, it simply wasn't enough.

That's because Bishop Manogue was able to counter with Austin Miller, who rushed for 312 yards and four touchdowns to ignite the Miners to a 40-20 Northern 3A football victory on a cool and windy evening.

Miller, a 5-foot-10, 160-pound senior, broke five runs of 30 yards or better on the night, capped off by touchdown gallops of 67 and 50 yards in the fourth quarter. Those last two scores were back breakers because they came immediately after VanZant had scored on long runs to bring the Dust Devils back to within 13 points.

"It's always fun to see two good runners go at it like that, although it wasn't as much fun for me to watch VanZant run the other way. But, he is a good runner," Manogue coach Bill Branca said.

VanZant seemed to get stronger on a night in which he played fullback for the first time this season - 215 of those yards in the second half when the Dust Devils fought back from a 27-0 deficit.

"That's the Shane we've been looking for all season," Dayton coach Butch Cattanach said.

"We moved him to fullback instead of tailback; we felt that would allow him to get to the line of scrimmage quicker and he played very well.

"Our right guard, Ryan Jacobsen, played a great game, too. His blocks sprung our fullback trap up the middle all night, and he's the one who was leading on the buck sweep, too."

VanZant sprung a 43-yard touchdown run, aided by a crushing downfield block from Jeff Miller, to bring Dayton back to 27-14 with 9:04 remaining. Later in the fourth quarter, VanZant broke into the open, then burst between two defenders on his way to a 52-yard touchdown run that made it 33-20 with 6:04 to go.

"We didn't have much confidence early in the game," VanZant said. "Once we figured out that we could hit with them, we were OK.

"I was proud of my line tonight. They played great."

However, the defending state 3A champion Miners managed to answer both of those big plays with Miller time.

"Austin has been doing a good job for us all season," Branca said. "He's a great back. He's not the most talented back, but he runs with a lot of heart. He runs at full speed on every play in practice and on every play in the game."

The other half of Manogue's starting backfield tandem, Daniel Hansen, also rushed for 112 yards on eight carries. He scored on runs of 1 and 27 yards in the first half when the Miners jumped out to a 21-0 lead.

Down 27-0, Dayton got on the scoreboard midway through the third quarter when Garrett Watkins caught a 1-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Jim Kepler. The key to the drive was VanZant's 46-yard run to the 1 on a third-and-23 play.

"The thing I was pleased about was the way the kids came back. They played hard and they played to the end," said Cattanach, whose Dust Devils were coming off a 65-7 loss at Spring Creek two weeks before.

The Dust Devils threatened twice in the first half. Ivan Trigueros and Josh May combined to block a punt, giving the Dust Devils first down at Manogue's 24, but they were unable to move the ball.

On their next possession, the Dust Devils mounted a 13-play march and had a third-and-goal play from the 1, but couldn't cash in.