Fresh off its first win of the season, Dayton hopes to extend its winning streak when it visits undefeated Fallon in a Division 1A game today.
Kick-off is set for 7 p.m. at the Edward Arciniega Complex.
Dayton is 1-2 overall and 1-1 in league. Fallon is 2-0, and has been dominant in wins over Wooster (61-12) and South Tahoe (53-7).
“Fallon is the best team we’ve faced,” Dayton coach Rob Turner said. “Not taking anything away from Lovelock, Truckee and Spring Creek. It’s a huge game for us. If it hadn’t been for the practice time we lost because of the smoke, I think we could be 3-0. Losing to Spring Creek really hurt. These next two games are pivotal for us (Fallon and Lowry).”
Dayton is coming off a 35-point performance and a 208-yard rushing effort by Austin Fletcher, who has been the team’s workhorse through the first three games. Quarterback Davis Winebarger has thrown for 435 yards and two scores.
“Every time they come to compete against us, it seems like they compete a little harder,” Fallon coach Brooke Hill said. “It’s a new offense for them, but they are putting up some points. They still feature some concepts from the Wing-T, but they are a power run team. They are trying to expand a little bit, and that’s probably a good thing.”
Fallon has been dominant on defense and special teams. The defense, led by Justin Hatfield and Rylie Williams has allowed just 9.5 points per game. The special teams, or rather sophomore Cameron Matzen, has been superb. Matzen has averaged 47.5 a return on eight attempts, including four for TDs. Matzen has three reception on the year, two of which have gone for scores.
“He is a stud,” Turner said of Matzen. “He makes people look silly, We’ve got two choices, either kick it away from him, or kick it short and high enough that we can cover it. If it’s in the middle of the field, he’s going to field it.”
Fallon senior Morgan Dirickson has only thrown 17 times, completing six passes for 175 yards with four TDs and no interceptions. The Greenwave rely on a potent running game led by Trent Tarner, who has 285 yards rushing and four scores thus far. Jake Ernst averages nearly 8 yards per carry,
“The offense, for some reason, we haven’t found a rhythm yet,” Hill said. “We got to get good reps in practice. We are anticipating that’s not going to be the case. We got a good quarterback back there and some good skill guys.”
For Dayton, linebacker Fletcher leads the team with 22 tackles followed by linebacker Josh Koch (15) and defensive back John Aguilar (13).The Dust Devils are still without Skyler Berntson, and Jon Joyner will miss the game because of illness. The team did get guard-nose tackle Jesus Castaneda back from the injury list.
