DAYTON – It was homecoming night for both Dayton and Waitsburg high schools Friday, and the DW football team gave students from both schools something to cheer about. The home team easily overpowered Mabton and cruised to a 55-30 victory that wasn't as close as the score indicated.

DW remained tied at the top of the Eastern Washington Athletic Conference standings with Kittitas, who beat DeSales Friday, 38-20. Each team is 4-0 in league play. DW is 5-1 overall, while Kittitas is 5-0.

DW capitalized on Mabton mistakes to take an early lead. After DW kicked off to open the game, the defense held Mabton, and on fourth down, in punt formation, a bad snap allowed the defense to tackle the punter behind the line of scrimmage, and DW took over on downs at the Mabton 41.

DW struggled on their first drive as well. A recovered fumble for a loss of five yards, and two Travis Crockett runs that went nowhere, left DW facing fourth and 15 on the Mabton 46. DW elected not to kick, and after quarterback Jacob Dunn scrambled to his left, he found receiver Ben Kleck wide open on the left side. Kleck caught the ball at about the 15 and scored easily. A Joe Adams kick gave DW a 7-0 lead with less than four minutes gone.

"They were really keying on Travey (running back Travis Crockett)," said Dayton coach Troy Larsen. "We ran a play action and their linebackers went for the runner (Crockett). That left Ben wide open."

On Mabton's next drive, Dunn, playing free safety, picked off a Mabton pass and ran it down to the 26-yard line. On first down, with the offense in a spread formation, running back Cal Martin took the ball over the middle and scored easily for the first of his four touchdowns on the night. With 7:11 to go in the first quarter, it was 14-0.

DW recovered a fumble on Mabton's next drive and took over on the Mabton 22. A pass to Crockett and a Dunn keeper moved the ball to inside the one-yard line. Martin punched it in on the next play and DW led 20-0 with just under six minutes left in the first quarter.

Larsen said he was pleased to see his team take a quick lead, after struggling in the first quarter in games earlier in the season. "One of our goals was to get a fast start," he said. "We did it last week and this week."

DW scored three more times in the second quarter, on a 10-yard run by Martin, a 30-yard pass from Dunn to receiver Nick Kitselman, and, with no time left on the clock., a 39-yard bomb from Dunn to Tanner Bren, who was wide open in the end zone.

In the third quarter Larsen kept his starters in the game, to work on offensive play combinations, and try to run down the clock with some long drives.

"It got a little ugly, and we had a couple of four and outs," Larsen said. "But we got some good work in, and we learned some things that'll help us later on."

Later in the quarter, Martin scored his fourth TD of the night, on a five-yard run, to build the DW lead to 49-14.

Larsen let his second-string players take over in the fourth quarter. They gave up a couple of late TDs to Mabton, but were able to score again, on a 25-yard run by Chris Philbrook.

While he was held scoreless for the first time this year, Crockett once again led his team in rushing, with 133 yards on 20 carries. Martin carried the ball seven times for 58 yards and four touchdowns.

Dunn was 16 for 25 passing for 267 yards and three touchdowns. He was intercepted once.

Bren caught six catches for 103 yards and one TD. Kleck had four catches for 89 yards and one touchdown.

On Defense, Martin had 17 tackles and Tristan Willis had six.

Larsen praised Martin for his dominant game. "Besides his four touchdowns, Cal continued his great play on defense," Larsen said. "He had a heck of a game."

Dayton-Waitsburg hosts White Swan in Waitsburg Friday night for senior night.

White Swan won their first game of the year last week, but Larsen said he isn't taking them lightly. "They've been in almost every game," he said, pointing to two losses by less than five points. "We can't look past them."

Mabton 6 8 0 16-30

D-W 20 23 6 6-55

D-W - Kleck 46 pass from Dunn (J. Adams kick)

D-W - Martin 26 run (J. Adams kick)

D-W - Martin 1 run (kick failed)

Mab - Gonzalez 31 pass from Rodriguez (kick blocked)

D-W - Martin 10 run (Martin run)

Mab - Arriaga 2 pass from Rodriguez (Rodriguez run)

D-W - Kitselman 30 pass from Dunn (Bren pass from Dunn)

D-W - Bren 39 pass from Dunn (J. Adams kick)

D-W - Martin 5 run (kick failed)

Mab - Mendoza 15 run (Espinoza pass from Rodriguez)

D-W - Philbrook 25 run (kick failed)

Mab - Aguilar 43 pass from Mendoza (Mendoza run)

Mabton D-W

First downs 15 17

Rushes/yards 34-112 38-251

Passing yards 264 267

Passes (att-comp-int) 32-15-3 25-16-1

Punts 3-28.3 3-36.3

Fumbles-lost 7-1 6-1

Penalties-yards 9-76 10-98

Individual Statistics

RUSHING - Mabton: Ruiz 10-34, Aguilar 1-2, Mendoza 11-90-1, Rodriguez 4-11, Arriaga 2-9, Team 6-(-34); D-W: Crockett 20-133, Martin 7-58-4, Dunn 3-40, Kleck 2-8, Philbrook 3-33-1, Team 3-(-21).

PASSING - Mabton: Rodriguez 14-31-3, 221 yards, 1 TD; Mendoza 1-1-0 43 yards, 1 TD; D-W: Dunn 16-25-1, 267 yards, 3 TDs.

RECEIVING - Mabton: Mendoza 8-79, Ruiz 3-39, Gonzalez 2-101-1, Arriaga 1-2-1, Aguilar 1-43-1; D-W: Kleck 4-89-1, Martin 2-14, Crockett 2-14, Bren 6-103-1, Kitselman 2-47-1.    

Nick Page

Quarterback Jacob Dunn gets tripped up as he dives forward for a few extra yards.

DEFENSE – Tackles: Martin 17, T. Willis 6, Branson 5, Dunn 5, Ky Adams 5, J. Adams 4, Philbrook 4, Brooks 3, Kleck 3, Crockett 2, Dieu 2, Kitselman 2, Bren 2, Hoffman 2, Andrews 2, Knowles 2, Miller, 2, Wooldridge 1, Boudrieau 1, Newman 1.