Dayton wows the homecoming crowd in win over Splendora

This one felt amazing for the Dayton Broncos.

After suffering four consecutive losses, including the most-lopsided one a week ago at Huntsville, the Broncos rose up for the homecoming crowd Friday night to take their first District 8-5A Division II win of the season, 33-6, over Splendora.

Dayton (3-5, 1-4) hadn’t won since Sept. 13 in its final non-district game at Porter. Splendora (2-6, 0-5), in its first season in Class 5A since 2017, dropped its sixth straight game after starting the year 2-0.

“It’s amazing,” said Dayton senior linebacker Andrew Soliz, who was a huge part of a dominant defense. “Especially to come out and dominate the game all four quarters. I loved the way the offense came out and crushed. The defense came out and stopped them. It was just great.”

It was a district season-high in points scored for the Broncos, which previously was 17 on two different occasions. The season-high came against Porter (42 points).

The defense sacked the Splendora quarterback at least 10 times. The Wildcats had minus-18 rushing yards and 186 total yards. Despite the losing streak, they averaged 28.6 points per game coming into the night. The six points was a season-low allowed by Dayton.

“Our defense flew around all night,” Dayton coach Jerry Prieto said. “We had a great game plan. Our defensive coaches had a great game plan. Our kids executed and flew around. They rallied to the football. They were physical. They dominated up front and had a great night.”

Soliz, who came into the night with 10 sacks, was in the backfield frequently along with Yashir Villa and Emilio Villa among others.

“We just hurried to the ball and everyone got home,” Soliz said. “We just did the job.”

Dayton’s defense forced Splendora to turn it over on downs on the opening drive and that was a sign of things to come. In the first half, the Broncos forced the Wildcats to turn it over on downs three times and punt three other times. There was also a botched snap fumble in the end zone for a safety in the second quarter.

It was a conservative 3-0 lead for Dayton after the first quarter as Mark Arellano blasted a 25-yard field goal.

Dayton turned up the well-earned fun in the second quarter, led by senior running back Jaleel Kendrick.

Kendrick threw a 69-yard touchdown pass, returned a punt to the end zone (which was called back on a block in the back) and then scored anyways on a 25-yard run three plays into the ensuing drive. At the 9:48 mark, Kendrick heaved a ball down the right sideline where Braeden White did the rest of the work for the touchdown.

A consistent weapon on offense all season, Kendrick then had Dayton’s only points needed in the second half on an eight-yard run.

“He’s a talented kid and whatever we tell him to do, he’s going to do it to the best of his ability,” Prieto said. “He’s somebody that we can count on and use in different scenarios and situations. He played some quarterback tonight and he’s never practiced one snap at quarterback. He came up big for us tonight.”

Four minutes before halftime, Marcus James caught a 27-yard touchdown pass from Wyatt Keasling, a sophomore making his first varsity start at quarterback due to injuries at the position.

White and James each have two touchdowns on the season now.

“We started out fast and that was good,” Prieto said. “We got our teeth kicked in last week and we responded. We had a great week of practice. Nobody missed, nobody pouted. They showed up ready to work and it showed tonight with the result.”

A big lead like 26-0 at halftime was something Dayton hadn’t experienced this year.

“We hadn’t really been in that situation this year to have that big of a lead at halftime,” Prieto said. “Keeping our guys locked in and focused and knowing that we had to go play a full second half to win a football game.”

Soliz and his teammates challenged themselves to not have any let downs.

“We just had to make sure to tell everybody not to stay complacent,” Soliz said. “Everybody just keep your foot on their throats. Make sure you finish it out through. Make sure you get this ‘W’.”

Splendora scored its only points on its first drive in the third quarter. Quarterback Brayden Hinton hit TJ Burch on a six-yard pass on fourth down.

Dayton had interceptions by Colton Havard (which set up the Kendrick touchdown run) and Ashanti Allen in the second half.

Really, the only negative for Dayton was losing Keasling to a shoulder injury in the third quarter. Due to injuries, Keasling was the fourth different Broncos starter at quarterback this season. Sophomore Easton Brock went the rest of the way with 25 passing yards.

White had 91 receiving yards while James had 69. Kendrick finished with 63 rushing yards.

It was a great conclusion to the Broncos first win at home since Week 1 against Crosby. A massive crowd saw this win over Splendora.

“You look up there and those stands are packed,” Prieto said. “That’s a long trek up there for some of those fans. It was great to see the community come out and support these kids and it’s great that our kids backed that up with that performance.”