WAITSBURG—The much-anticipated DW Football season kicked off over the weekend, playing against the Highland Scotties.

The 2020-21 season was delayed due to pandemic concerns, shutdowns, and restrictions. The football team got the go-ahead to begin practices in early February and were cleared to begin playing a couple of weeks later when the Southcentral Region moved to Phase 2 of the Roadmap to Recovery plan, which went into effect in January.

Coach Troy Larsen said that the Dayton-Waitsburg Football had a great start to the 2021 COVID-19 season.

“After practicing in the gym for the first week, we were only able to get to our field for four days before our game against Highland,” he said in an email. “To summarize the game. our defense did a fantastic job shutting down Highland to only four first downs and only six yards of rushing.”

Coach Gabe Kiefel did a great job getting the student-athletes in the right positions and having them in the right place throughout the game, according to Larsen.

Brayden Mohney led the defensive backs with multiple tackles and two interceptions while Mason Finney led the team with 10 tackles from his LB position. Mohney stepped up in his first Varsity start, making DW’s first touchdown (TD) catch of the 2021 COVID season and ending the day with two catches for 67 yards and a TD.

Offensively, Monte Pettichord led the offense like a veteran, even though he is a sophomore. Pettichord completed nine of his 18 passes for 205 yards and three TD’s, while rushing nine times for 39 yards and two TD’s making the correct reads in the DW zone and option plays.

“Pettichord read the field well, hitting five different receivers, with Shawn Evans leading the receiving squad with two catches for 72 yards before leaving the game in the second quarter with bruised ribs,” said Larsen.

The DW Football team landed a hard-earned victory, defeating the Scotties 38-0.

The coaching staff is looking forward to the progress the students-athletes will make from week one to week two. DW only dressed 17 student-athletes for the game against Highland and will only dress 17 for TCP this Friday night. They look forward to having all 23 student-athletes active in the next two weeks.

Score

Dayton-Waitsburg 38 – Highland 0

Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Final

0 0 0 0 0. Highland (HHS)

7 12 19 0 38. Dayton-Waitsburg (DW)

Team Highlights

DW Mohney, 20 yd pass from Pettichord, (Berg Kick).

DW Pettichord, 1 yd run, (Kick Failed).

DW VanBlaricom, 4 yd pass from Pettichord, (Kicked Blocked).

DW Pettichord, 4 yd run, (Kick Failed).

DW Finney, 30 yd pass from Pettichord, (Berg Kick).

DW Finney, 1 yd run, (Kick Failed).

Team Statistics

First Downs: 4-10

Rushes-Yards: 16-6, 30-183

Passing Yards: 75, 205

Passing (att-completion-int.): 21-10-2, 18-9-0

Punts: 6-20, 3-27

Fumbles-Lost: 3-1, 3-1

Penalties: 2-10, 2-25

Individual Statistics

Rushing – HHS: M. Ramirez 4-5, R. Ayala 6-(-12), F. Pacheco 4-13. DW: Pettichord 9-39-2, VanBlaricom 4-10, Evans 1-7, Reser, 12-79, Finney 4-48-1.

Receiving – HHS: N. Mumby 2-12, J. Silva 4-26, J. Villafan 1-3, L. Alcaia 3-34. DW: Finney 2-62-1, Evans 2-73, Mohney 2-67-1, Boudrieau 1-5, VanBlaricom 2-23.

Passing – HHS: I. Escamilla 10-21-2, 75 yds. DW: Pettichord 9-18-0, 205 yds, 3 TD’s.