WAITSBURG-The Waitsburg Cardinals defense shut down a young Dayton Bulldogs team last Friday night at Cardinal Field by a score of 48-0. Nearly all the scoring was assisted by turnovers by the Bulldogs, but overall, the Cardinals dominated both sides of the ball for the entire night.

Dayton started the first quarter with a pooch kickoff that landed in the hands of the Cardinal receiver, allowing him to reach the Dayton 40-yard line. Four running plays later, the Cardinals scored the first touchdown of the night at 10:34. The following three scores in the quarter for Waitsburg were off Dayton turnovers, including an interception return for a touchdown by JJ Gleason at 6:19, a fumble return for a 72-yard touchdown at 3:11 for Cyson Morris, and another fumble return for a 69-yard touchdown by Jayce Gleason at 1:34.

Dayton once again turned over the ball on an interception in the first possession of the second half at about 11:45. The Cardinals turned it into a nice running touchdown at 9:52. Dayton then had a nice set of possessions, eating up about five minutes on the clock, but eventually turned it over on downs in the red zone. Cardinal Lucas Van Hoose broke free for an 80-yard touchdown run on the following first play from scrimmage. For the first half, the Cardinal defense did an outstanding job with more than 15 tackles for a loss and four takeaways, which significantly hampered the Bulldogs' scoring chances.

With a 40-point margin, the mercy rule went into effect, and the clock ran continuously for the entire second half. Regardless, Isa Reyes made a nice 53-yard touchdown run midway in the third quarter before being pulled for freshman backup quarterback Isaac Mahre to get some on-the-field experience. In addition, Dayton's freshman quarterback Byron Collier was injured midway through the third period and did not return. Although Dayton's offense made positive yardage on nearly every possession, even after making good yardage, turnovers, especially in the red zone, were a key driver to the game.

However, the primary key to the game was the difference in athleticism and experience between the two teams. While the teams each have four Seniors, Waitsburg has four Juniors to Dayton's one, and more than half of Dayton's players (9) are freshmen, as opposed to only about a quarter (6) for Waitsburg. While these differences may not seem like much, the difference in athleticism between 14–15-year-old and 17-18-year-old players is immense. In eight-man football, it can be a game changer.

Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Final

Dayton 0 0 0 0 0

Waitsburg 28 12 8 0 48