Dayton hosts winless Wooster tonight

DAYTON - Dayton football coach Rob Turner readily admits that he knows very little about Wooster High's football team.

That's because the Colts failed to send any film to the Dust Devils. The Colts, however, did receive film from Dayton.

"The only film we have was from their Lowry game, and that's because they played Lowry and that was one of the films we got from Lowry," said Turner, whose 3-2 Dust Devils host the winless Colts tonight at 7. "I had already sent mine to them."

What Turner does know for sure is that the Colts. who have petitioned to go back to 4A fotball next fall, are 0-4, yielding 125 points while only scoring 45.

The teams have two common opponents thus far - South Tahoe and Lowry. Wooster lost by 41 to Lowry and by 20 to South Tahoe. Dayton lost by 23 to Lowry and beat South Tahoe by 29.

"I know when one of the local papers previewed Wooster their new coach said they were going to throw the ball more," Turner said. "They run some three-back sets and lots of motion. We're trying to get ready for everything.

"We were lots of people's homecoming last season and it got on my nerves. When you schedule homecoming games, you want somebody that you can beat or at least be competitive with. Wooster is coming in 0-4. They have nothing to lose and everything to gain by beating a higher-ranked team."

Turner says his defense did a good job technique-wise last week in the win over South Tahoe. It led to eight-tackle efforts by linebackers Sean deRubertis, Cody Yeater, Austin Fletcher and Tyler Firestone.

"Everybody did a good job getting to their spots," Turner said.

Turner said that Sam Hadley could return to the defensive backfield tonight. He has missed the last couple of contests.

Wooster's top runner is Sam Klippenstein. Josh Carnemolo is the starting quarterback, and he appears to be a better runner than thrower. Standout wrestler Steven Elicegui has chalked up yards on the ground and through the air.

Turner said the key to the contest will be coming out hard and taking care of the football.

"We can't have turnovers," Turner said. "I coach the running backs, and during practice we've been working on kids trying to come up and strip the ball."

Turnovers might be the only way Wooster stops Dayton. The Dust Devils rushed for more than 500 yards in last week's win over South Tahoe.

Fletcher didn't attempt a pass and the Dust Devils averaged 14.4 yards a carry. Firestone gained 255 yards, Yeater had 122, deRubertis 35, Eddy Morales 63 and Fletcher 47.