By Rob Tate
SportCast Media
Dayton was in striking distance at the half with hopes of dashing Montgomery’s homecoming night.
But the Bears dashed those Bronco hopes of a District 8-5A Division II-opening win Friday night with four unanswered touchdowns in the fourth quarter for a 47-14 win.
Dayton (2-2, 0-1) returns home next Friday after a month on the road.
It was like a sandwich with two stale pieces of bread with some pristine lunch meat in the middle for the Broncos against the Bears.
Montgomery (4-0, 1-0) scored two touchdowns in the first five minutes. Dayton responded with two of its own to tie the game. The Bears scored just before halftime for a six-point lead before pouring it on late.
On the second play of the game, Bears senior quarterback Reggie Williams pushed in the line and bounced off tackle to the right for a 71-yard sprint to the end zone. It was his first of three rushing scores on the night.
After a quick three-and-out by the Broncos, Williams hooked up with a wide-open Luke Piro on the ensuing drive for a 59-yard touchdown pass.
Dayton settled in on its second offensive possession and put together a quality 10-play drive to pull within a score. On third-and-long, Dayton sophomore quarterback Jerry Prieto Jr ran in his fourth touchdown of the season for a 23-yard gain with 2:53 left in the opening quarter.
After each team punted on three-and-out, Dayton forced a fumble that was recovered by Rakin Akmal.
Three plays into the ensuing drive, Dayton tied it up with a 54-yard lofted pass down the middle of the field for Jaleel Kendrick, who split through a couple defenders and ran it home.
The tie game didn’t last long.
Montgomery marched 11 plays capped by a 1-yard quarterback plunge by Williams with 4:10 left before the half for a 20-14 (the point after missed).
The Bears attempted a 48-yard field goal with three seconds left before halftime, but Dayton got a good rush for a block and Aaron Wright recovered and ran up field. He was taken down as time expired.
Dayton was setup well out of halftime, but an injury kept Prieto Jr on the sideline in the second half as do-it-all junior Denim Foster, playing for the first time since the Crosby win, took over calling signals.
Nobody scored in the third quarter, giving the Broncos hope for a huge road win.
Montgomery capped its first drive of the fourth with Williams’ third touchdown run, this time from 12 yards out. He totaled 137 rushing yards on the night and 111 yards passing.
The Bears then intercepted Foster on the ensuing drive as Jace McWhirter ran it inside the 5.
Twenty-nine seconds after its previous touchdown, Montgomery scored again on a two-yard run by DQ Swapsy.
Keldrid Ben and Isaiah Mendoza both added touchdown runs late for the Bears, who are off to their best start since 2021 when they won their first 11 games.
Montgomery came in off a 67-point performance against Elgin two weeks ago before the bye and were averaging 51 points per game.
Dayton was denied matching their best start since 2022 when that Broncos team went 3-1.
The Broncos were held below their 23.6 points per game average.
Dayton had 213 yards of total offense. Kendrick, who came into the night with a team-leading 358 all-purpose yards, totaled 65 receiving and 28 rushing.
Merkle Judge and Andrew Soliz were among the Broncos recording sacks.
Dayton returns home for the first time since Week 1 when it beat Crosby next Friday, 7 p.m. against Nederland.
Montgomery takes on rival Lake Creek the same night.
