The Times - Serving Waitsburg, Dayton and the Touchet Valley

WAITSBURG – For the second week in a row, the Dayton-Waitsburg football team gave up an opening drive touchdown and fell behind early in the first quarter.

But this time, in their home game here Friday night against DeSales, DW dominated the Irish in the second half and won their second home game in as many weeks, 40-18.

Also, for the second week in a row, DW running back Travis Crockett scored four touchdowns, and again proved to be an offensive weapon that his team's opponent had no answer for.

Crockett finished the game with 355 yards total offense, giving him an even 600 yards offense in his first two games this year. He has also scored eight touchdowns in those two games. Crockett missed DW's season-opening loss to Mac-Hi.

DeSales took the game's opening kickoff and drove down the field to score with 2½ minutes gone. The first two DW possessions went nowhere.

DW coach Troy Larsen was suffering from the flu on Friday and coached from the press box as best he could. "I didn't want to be giving this to the players," he said of his illness. "Our pregame was different with me not there, and I think that affected our play in the first quarter. After they settled down we were fine."

Later in the first quarter, DeSales drove down the field again and set themselves up with first and goal at the DW 6, threatening to go up by two touchdowns. But Jacob Dunn, playing free safety for DW, intercepted a pass, squelching the Irish drive and giving his team possession on their own 4 with 1:45 to go in the first quarter.

On DW's next play, Crockett rumbled up the middle and then cut through the Irish secondary to the right sideline, sprinting to the end zone to score from 96 yards out to even the game at six. It was the momentum changer.

"Travis is so fast and reads the defense so well, if we can bust him loose with one block he can get a big gain or be gone," said Larsen. "That's what you saw on that first score. He's fun to watch."

After a three and out by the Irish, DW started their next drive from their own 31. A 22-yard Crockett run was followed by a pass over the middle from quarterback Dunn to running back Cal Martin for 24 more yards. DW drove the ball to the one, before Martin punched it in at 9:19 to go in the second. After the game's third point-after attempt failed, DW led 12-6.

DeSales punted on their next possession, but DW lost a fumble and the Irish took over on the DW 18. On a quick overhead-lateral-and-pass play, DeSales evened the score at 12, with 5:58 remaining in the half.

DW and DeSales traded punts on each of their next possessions, and DW found themselves with first and 10 on their own 8 with 2:40 to go in the half.

Crockett quickly picked up 32 yards on a run, and then Nic Kitselman caught a pass over the middle for 20 more. An unsportsmanlike conduct penalty on DeSales gave DW the ball on the Irish 25 with a minute to go. Three plays later, DW faced fourth and 1 on the 16 with just a few seconds remaining in the half.

After Crockett got the first down on a run up the middle, Dunn threw a bullet to Kitselman, who scored with one tick left on the clock. This time, DW was successful on a two-point conversion, courtesy of a Crockett run up the middle, and DW went into halftime with a 20-12 lead.

"I've been really happy with Nick Kitselman's play," coach Larsen said. "We have him in at slot receiver, and he gives us a great weapon there."

DW took the second half kickoff, but on their third play of the half, Dunn threw an interception, and DeSales took over on the DW 32.

The Irish quickly drove for a touchdown, and after a failed 2-point attempt, DW held on to a slim 20-18 lead, with 7:46 to go in the third.

But it was all DW football from there. Crockett scored on a 23-yard pass from Dunn, at 1:42 in the third, pushing the lead to 26-18

The teams traded possessions over the next seven minutes, before Crockett extended DW's lead with a 33-yard run up the middle, with 6:25 on the clock. After a Martin 2-point conversion, it was 34-18.

After DW's defense shut down the Irish over the final 1½ quarters, Crockett put the proverbial icing on the cake with 11 seconds left in the game, running the ball in from the 18 to push the score to 40-18.

Coach Larsen said that, for the second week in a row, he switched his defense from 3-4 to 4-4 midway through the game, adding a down lineman. "We seem to do better with a four-man front," he said. "That's where our talent is. It looks like we'll be sticking with that."

Crockett's heroics included 245 yards rushing on 16 carries, with three touchdowns, along with 110 yards receiving on seven catches and one TD. He also had seven tackles on defense.

Dunn had an outstanding day passing, completing 14 of 22 attempts for 195 yards and two touchdowns.

Martin picked up 57 yards rushing on nine carries.

On defense, cornerback Tanner Bren made 11 tackles, and lineman Cade Branson and linebacker Martin each had 10.

"Bren was our player of the game on defense," Larsen said. "He had 11 tackles, and he had four knockdowns. He's doing an outstanding job at cornerback."

The DW team travels to Pasco Friday night to take on Tri-Cities Prep, in a game that starts at 7 p.m.

"Prep is probably the best team in the league we'll play this year," Larsen said. "They're a running team, so we'll probably go with a four or even five-man front on D."

DeSales 6 6 6 0-18

D-W 6 14 6 14 -40    

DeSales - Montero 25 pass from Leahy (kick blocked).

D-W - Crockett 96 run (kick failed).

D-W - Martin 1 run (kick failed).

DeSales - Baumgart 18 pass from Rodriguez (kick failed).

D-W - Kitselman 14 pass from Dunn (Crockett run).

DeSales - Leahy 5 run (run failed).

D-W - Crockett 23 pass from Dunn (run failed).

D-W - Crockett 33 run (Martin run).

D-W - Crockett 18 run (kick failed).

DeSalesD-W

First downs 17/ 20

Rushes/yards 28-113 / 32-311

Passing yards 171 / 195

Passes (att-comp-int)42-18-1/  22-14-1

Punts4-30.3 /  4-40.5

Nick Page

Quarterback Jacob Dunn lofts a pass to receiver Nic Kitselman.

Fumbles-lost  0-0  2-1

Penalties-yards 6-60  / 4-30

Individual Statistics

RUSHING - DeSales: Z. Leahy 13-61-1, J. Elmenhurst 13-54, Montero 1-0, Team 1-(-2); D-W: Crockett 16-245-3, Martin 9-57-1, Philbrook 2-12, Dunn 2-2, Kitselman 1-1, Team 2-(-6).

PASSING - DeSales: Z. Leahy 15-39-1, 153 yards, 1 TD, Rodriguez 1-3-0, 18 yards, 1 TD; D-W: Dunn 14-22-1, 195 yards, 2 TDs.

RECEIVING - DeSales: Baumgart 5-61-1, Rodriguez 5-29, Montero 2-47-1, P. Elmenhurst 1-18, McCaw 1-7, Buckley 1-6, C. Leahy 1-3; D-W: Crockett 7-110-1, Kitselman 4-73-1, French 3-12.

Defense: Bren 11 Tackles, Branson 10, Martin 10, Kitselman 8, French 8, Crokett 7, Philbrook 6, Lamere 5,  T. Willis 4, Miller 3, Dunn 3, Knowles 3,Deiu 1.