The Times - Serving Waitsburg, Dayton and the Touchet Valley

DAYTON - Now in his seventh year as Dayton's first soccer coach, DJ Frame is beginning to reap some rewards for his efforts. "Our players are learning to con­trol the ball better," Frame said.

So far this year, much of Dayton's offense has come from forwards Ian Smay and Roy Han. Smay and Han each scored hat tricks (three goals in one game) in the Bulldogs' victory over Northport in September. Smay had four more goals in a 5-2 victory over Trout Lake on Saturday in Dayton.

Han, an exchange student from South Korea has been an outstanding addition to the Bulldog team. Against Trout lake, he scored one goal and had an assist.

Dayton has also been helped by strong play in the goal by the Weppler broth­ers, Willie and Alex. Willie, a senior, is the Bulldogs' number one goalkeeper, but he has been hampered by injuries. Alex, a junior, has been a strong backup to his brother.

Frame said he is also see­ing strong play this fall from defender/midfielder Junior Dedloff, who is a senior.

"We only have three se­niors," he said, "so I'm look­ing forward to having an experienced team next year.

Because many schools don't have soccer teams, the Bulldogs find themselves doing a lot of traveling dur­ing the season. The only other B level schools in southeast Washington with soccer programs are Waits­burg Prescott and Walla Walla Valley Academy.

"We try to make the most of our road trips," Frame said. In September, the team traveled to Spokane and played Valley Christian High School. The team slept over in the Valley Christian gym and then played a game at a neutral field on Saturday against Northport, a school north of Spokane.

Last weekend, the team played Friday and Saturday against Trout Lake in Day­ton, loaning out their gym to the Trout Lake players Friday night.

The team has longer road trips scheduled this month. They travel again to Spo­kane this weekend to play St. George on Saturday. They also play Riverside in Yakima on October 12.