It has been a rough week for the Dayton High football team.
Not only are the Dust Devils nursing a three-game losing skid, but they enter Saturday’s game at Truckee minus running backs Austin Lunz and David Leach, who are both injured. The duo had accounted for 502 rushing yards thus far.
And, the Dust Devils have a new starting quarterback in sophomore Trenton Thompson, who replaces fellow sophomore Carson Keith. Thompson saw action last week in the 42-0 loss to Spring Creek. Thompson is 7-for-14 passing for 93 yards this season.
“We’ve had to make a few changes,” coach Patrick Squires said. “We will see what happens. We have to be able to keep our defense off the field. You aren’t going to win games when the defense is on the field 38 to 40 minutes of the game.
“Truckee is very athletic. I know we can compete. We need to manage the game and that will give us a chance (to win) late in the game.”
Squires said Justin Schmidt and Alex Dusky will replace Leach and Lunz. Keith is likely to see action on both sides of the ball. When he was quarterbacking, he played no defense.
“They (Thompson and Keith) were pretty much even,” Squires said. “Trenton played some last week, and he was cool and commanded the huddle. He threw a good ball. I thought I would give him a chance to start this week. I’m trying to find the right combination.
“I thought Carson got discouraged when things weren’t going well. Carson is very athletic, and we will use him at A back and defensively which will help.”
Dayton’s defense will have its hands full with the Wolverines, who have outscored opponents 157-57 thus far. The offense was dominant in wins over Bret Harte, Wooster and Lowry.
Quarterback Marcus Bellon has completed 60 percent of his passes for 573 yards and nine scores. He has rushed for 174 yards and two scores. Seven different runners are averaging anywhere from 25 to 50 yards a game. Jamie Parisi has 200 yards rushing and another 147 receiving.
The defense is led by Jackson Skaff and Michael Doughty, both of whom are averaging nine tackles a contest.
