By Rob Tate
SportCast Media
It was a promising start for the Broncos. But much like previous meetings with Lake Creek, it was a rough night overall.
Dayton scored first in the District 8-5A Division II contest at Bronco Stadium, but the Lions piled up a 26-point lead by halftime and moved on to a 57-17 victory.
Dayton (2-4, 0-3) dropped its third straight game with the loss.
Lake Creek (3-3, 1-2) stops a two-game slide while picking up their first district win of the season. The Lions are 3-0 all-time for Dayton as the teams met in 2020 and 2021 with Lake Creek winning by an average margin of 40 points.
The Broncos – already without starting quarterback Jerry Prieto Jr for the second consecutive week – lost replacement Denim Foster on the second series of the night. Foster came down with a leg injury on a first-down run and with the game tied at the time.
As for that promising start, Jaleel Kendrick sparked the home crowd with a 54-yard run to start the game.
Lake Creek responded with Tulsa commit Eli Morcos on the quarterback run up the middle for 26 yards and a score.
The Lions intercepted Dayton three times in the first half. Wyatt Davis had the first takeaway to stop the drive Foster was injured on. Before halftime, Reid Wisenbaker and Cooper Gary each had picks.
Lake Creek scored 26 unanswered points after Dayton’s successful opening drive.
Morcos added a 29-yard run before the end of the first quarter.
In the second quarter, Lake Creek had a safety, Morcos connected with Brooks McGee on a 53-yard score, Rice commit Tyvonn Byars had a 3-yard touchdown run and Will Patrick made a 27-yard field goal.
Dayton kicker MarK Arellano had the lone points of the second quarter for the Broncos as he made a 22-yard field goal.
Lake Creek went over its 40.8 scoring average in the third quarter as Byars capped the opening drive of the second half with an 11-yard touchdown run.
Byars added two more scoring runs in the frame – from 1 yard and 11 yards. Byars fourth touchdown of the night was set up by a Rylan Rucker interception.
With 4:50 left in the game, Dayton found the end zone.
It was a touchdown of firsts as sophomore Wyatt Keasling caught his first of the season on a 16-yard throw by backup quarterback Braden Gutierrez, his first touchdown throw of the year.
Dayton totaled 278 yards of total offense. Kendrick finished with 82 yards rushing.
Lane Mitchell rushed for 49 yards in the fourth quarter. Keasling caught a pass threw for 62 yards to Marcus James on a trick play.
Merkle Judge had a sack for the Broncos.
Byars finished with 152 yards rushing. Morcos threw for 184 yards while rushing for 63. Trummell had 71 rushing yards and 65 receiving.
The win helped the Lions, who fell to defending state champion Port Neches-Groves two weeks ago and then again last week to rival Montgomery, prevent their first three-game losing streak since 2021. They went unbeaten in the regular season the last two seasons.
Dayton came into the night off losses to Montgomery and Nederland since district play started.
Dayton moves on to another tough one next week. It hits the road for the first time in three weeks to face state semifinalist Huntsville on Friday.
Lake Creek is back on the road again next Friday at Nederland.
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