DAYTON - Half an hour after the last lightning strike flashed across the skies over Dayton Thursday night, the Bulldogs and Mac Hi Pioneers took to the field, warmed up and began their game an hour late.

After the kickoff, Dayton players - 11 on the field and only three on the bench - marched down to the 4-yard line on a number of tough running plays. Then, on third and goal, quarterback Christian Warner threw a pitch pass to running back Lowden Smith, who was promptly sacked by the Mac Hi defense and the Dogs were denied their first score of the season.

And although their final execution on subsequent red zone plays didn't get the pigskin any closer to the end zone, head coach Dean Bickelhaupt could see the promise in his young new team.

"I thought we competed well against them for the limited number of kids we had," he said. "I was happy with the way they played of­fense and defense."

The Dogs lost 28-0, al­lowing two Pioneer touch­downs in the first and one each in the third and fourth quarters. But in their de­feat, which could have been much larger, Bickelhaupt saw his silver lining, con­sisting of several near-suc­cessful drives and plenty of moments where veteran and green Bulldogs shone, par­ticularly in rushing attempts and solo tackles.

And to top it off, Dayton sustained no injuries, an achievement whose impor­tance can't be underesti­mated for a team with only about 19 players for the season or fewer than half the average number among league competitors.

"We stayed healthy and that's the key," he said about the non-league game against Mac Hi.

Dayton's ground game was solid from the start with 195 yards rushing, he said. Warner himself accounted for 118 of those yards on 20 carries, followed by Guy Spellinger with 10 carries and 45 yards, and freshman Ben Kleck with 6 carries for 29 yards.

The Bulldogs executed most plays well and Bickel­haupt said special teams per­formed admirably. Warner ran one kick-off return for 40 yards, while Smith's four punts averaged 42 yards.

If the opening play was frustrating, another close drive in the second quarter was even more of a heart­breaker, Bickelhaupt said.

With 10 seconds to go in the half, Dayton brought the ball to the 8-yard line. On the next play, the it was caught on the 3-yard line but the Bulldogs' receiver didn't step out of bounds to stop the clock so there wasn't enough time to even kick a field goal, the head coach said.

"I told them they couldn't sit there and worry about (those near scores)," Bick­elhaupt said. "They played well but just couldn't get any points. They're going to come around."

Dayton's next game is away at Stanfield on Friday at 7 pm.