DAYTON - Coming off of a narrow defeat against the Cardinals, the Bulldogs didn't necessarily need a confidence booster going into Friday night's game against Tekoa/Oasksdale/Rosalia. With good reason, they took pride in their performance that nearly knocked WP off its top undefeated position in the league. The Bulldogs were ready for anything.

But they got another shot in the arm anyway, handily beating the Nighthawks, 26-6, with a defense that squeezed almost every TOR ground and air campaign like a vice. Now, they're in a good position to take on what is arguably their second-toughest league opponent on Friday: DeSales.

"If we execute well on offense, I think we'll be fine," head coach Dean Bickelhaupt said. "We can beat DeSales."

In the opening quarter of Friday night's home game against the Nighthawks, it looked like it might turn into a largely defensive encounter. It took a while for the Bulldogs to warm up the offense against the visitors, who nearly scored a field goal during the early part of the first quarter.

"We didn't come out playing with the same intensity as we did the week before (against WP)," Bickelhaupt said.

Momentum picked up a bit in the closing minutes of the first period when quarterback Colton Bickelhaupt ran for several gains, but he could not convert in the red zone despite trying three different receivers to pass to in the end zone: Wyatt Frame, Garett Turner and Hayden Fullerton. Each of the passes was incomplete and the Nighthawks took over on downs only to run into the tough Bulldog defense and was forced to punt.

Dayton took advantage of its new-found possession despite a quarterback run that was called back because of a holding call. Still close to the red zone, Bickelhaupt handed the pigskin to Fullerton, who ran it into the end zone for the Bulldogs' first touchdown with 7:30 to go in the first half. The extra point was no good, limiting Dayton's initial lead to 6-0. It would be the only score on the half. But the second half quickly took the guesswork out of the game's ultimate outcome. The Bulldogs quickly went to an effective ground game, bursting forward with a catch and run from Frame and a short run from Isaiah Lambert.

Dayton seesawed in front of the goal line, once pushed back by a false-start penalty then closing in on the end zone with short runs until Bickelhaupt punched it in for his team's second touchdown, followed by his pass to Turner for a twopoint conversion.

With all Bulldogs healthy or back in the lineup, Lowden Smith had his arm in a cast, all parts of the team's offense and defense seemed to click, though several long gains from runs by Frame and Fullerton were called back because of penalties.

"That kind of hurt our total yardage," Bickelhaupt said. "But we still moved the ball pretty consistently."

A 30-yard run by Fullerton was brought back because of an illegal block in the back field, but his second try brought it to the Nighthawks' 25-yard line. A dead ball foul, gave the Bulldogs a first down and Lambert ran it in for Dayton's third touchdown.

Again, the extra-point kick was no good, but the Bulldogs moved ahead 20-0 with little scoring prospect in sight for TOR. The team had a tough enough time getting a first down, registering little progress for the remainder of the quarter.

During its second possession of the fourth quarter, the Nighthawks finally broke through and would have found the Bulldogs' end zone had it not been for Lambert's touchdownsaving tackle with 10 minutes to go.

More productive defense followed with Fullerton and Smith tackling runners behind the line of scrimmage to push the Nighthawks further back.

On fourth down and 17, TOR decided to go for it, but threw an interception to Turner. The Bulldogs did not convert, turning the ball over on downs and finally letting its guard won long enough to allow a TOR touchdown on a long pass and run into the end zone with 4:44 to go. Kroft Sunderland blocked the extra point attempt to keep the Nighthawks' score at 6.

It wasn't the last word.

At first chewing up the clock with short runs and first downs, the Bulldogs were propelled into the red zone by a pass interference call on the Nighthawks on a Frame catch.

After one failed pass attempt, Bickelhaupt ran it up the middle for the Bulldogs' last touchdown with less than 1:30 to go. The kick was no good.

Quarterback Colton Bickelhaupt drops back in the pocket during Friday's win over TOR.

TOR regained possession once more but with 36 sec- onds to go, Fullerton sacked the Nighthawks' quarterback and caught a popped-up ball before it touched the ground, ending the game with a final score of 26-6. "We did our job on defense," coach Bickelhaupt said. "We didn't give them time to throw and they didn't get much yardage against us."