By Rob Tate
SportCast Media
For the second straight week in District 8-5A Division II, the Dayton Broncos opponent took a close game and rolled up some points in the final quarter to make it look worse.
This time it was on the Broncos’ home turf as Nederland took a 10-point game after three quarters and made a 41-17 final score.
“This score was not indicative of the game that we just had,” Dayton coach Jerry Prieto said. “It was two-score game for a lot of the night and they just scored a couple touchdowns late when we’re trying to stop the run.”
Dayton (2-3, 0-2) has dropped consecutive games for the first time since the end of last season. Nederland (4-1, 2-0), meanwhile, won for the second straight week and has taken seven of eight in the series against the Broncos. It was the 14th meeting since 2004 between the two.
Dayton had a largely positive night until Bulldogs quarterback Ayden Sunday added three touchdown passes in the fourth quarter. Sunday, who also threw two picks to Dayton senior Azrae Beechum, rushed for a score and passed for another in the first half to total five on the night.
The Broncos were holding a Nederland football team that averaged 34.5 points per game to well below that until the final minutes and had four takeaways on defense.
“I thought the defense played well,” Prieto said.
It was just a 10-point deficit at halftime.
With junior Denim Foster stepping up at quarterback and making his first start since the injury to sophomore Jerry Prieto Jr in the Montgomery game last week, the Broncos were just three yards shy of 200 yards of total offense in the first half.
Between Foster, senior running back Jaleel Kendrick and senior wide receiver Aaron Wright, Dayton had eight plays with double-digit yardage gained.
Kendrick, who scored the lone first-half touchdown with 4:14 left in the first quarter, had 108 yards by halftime.
Dayton senior Mark Arellano put a 23-yard field goal on the board on the Broncos’ second drive of the night.
On defense, Dayton had three takeaways, but allowed 20 points on the other drives.
Beechum intercepted a pass in the first quarter to halt the Bulldogs’ second drive. His play setup Kendrick’s touchdown run for a 10-7 lead. Beechum also had a pick on the second play of the second half.
Dayton senior Angelo Hadley had a fumble recovery early in the second quarter while junior Merkle Judge pounced on a ball punched out at the goal line after Nederland’s Hubert Thomas nearly scored. Thomas wasn’t stopped earlier in the quarter as he scored on a 49-yard run at the 7:18 mark.
Otherwise, Sunday had a touchdown run in the first quarter and a 22-yard scoring pass to KJ Tezeno with 57 seconds left before halftime.
After a scoreless third quarter, Tezeno caught a seven-yard score with 6:15 left in the game.
Foster responded with a four-yard touchdown run at the 4:48 mark.
A minute later, Leo Conteraras caught a 50-yard touchdown.
After a turnover on downs by Dayton, Thomas caught a 35-yard touchdown pass with 1:44 left in the game to set the final score.
Coach Prieto was pleased with how Foster performed after his first full week of taking over at quarterback and just two weeks after returning from a Week 1 injury.
“His first full week and he played great,” Coach Prieto said. “He played his freaking tail off. He did everything we asked of him and gave us a chance on a lot of plays.”
Foster totaled 110 yards rushing on 20 attempts and threw for 73 yards.
Kendrick had his third 100-yard game of the season with 105 on 13 touches.
“(Foster) and Jaleel were tough all night long,” Coach Prieto said. “They gave us a chance and you can’t ask for anything more than that.”
Dayton lost last week at Montgomery after a scoreless third quarter. The Bears scored four touchdowns in the fourth to pull away then.
Within striking distance most of the night, Prieto was pleased with how hard his team played to remain in contention.
“I thought our kids fought hard well,” Prieto said. “We are just a play or two, a step or two here and there from having a really good offensive night and then holding them under 21 points on defense.”
Dayton has another tough one on the schedule next Friday at home against Lake Creek, which is a deceptive 0-2 in district play after a loss to defending state champion Port Neches-Groves last week and a 46-14 defeat to Montgomery Friday night.
“We’re getting there,” Coach Prieto said. “I know it’s hard for some of these kids to see right now. Our kids played tough and fought their tails off.”
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