By Rob Tate
SportCast Media
Lake Creek (2-3, 0-2) at Dayton (2-3, 0-2)
The details: 7 p.m. Friday, Bronco Stadium
History: Lake Creek has put on a pair of strong showings against Dayton. The Lions are 2-0 with wins over the Broncos in 2020 and 2021.
Key player for Lake Creek: Not including last week’s game against Montgomery, Rice commit Tyvonn Byars had 13 touchdowns and 780 rushing yards through his first four games of the season. Byars has over 4,000 rushing yards and approaching 100 touchdowns in his four-year career at Lake Creek.
Key player for Dayton: Broncos senior linebacker Andrew Soliz is among the nation leaders in sacks. With eight of them, Soliz ranks third in the state of Texas (via MaxPreps) and 160th in the country. Soliz has 13 quarterback hurries and 40 tackles (11 for loss).
Stat attack: With 305 yards of total offense last week, the Broncos showed improvement over a week ago when it totaled just over 200 against Montgomery. Quarterback Denim Foster and running back Jaleel Kendrick had over 100 yards each in last week’s 41-17 loss to Nederland.
Notables: A proverbial ‘something has to give’ game as both Dayton and Lake Creek seek to stop the bleeding of a losing streak while notching a first District 8-5A Division II game of the season … Lake Creek began the year in the state rankings and hadn’t lost a regular season game since 2021 … The Lions have losses to Magnolia, defending state champs Port Neches-Groves and rival Montgomery while allowing 55.7 points per game … Kendrick is up to 360 yards and three touchdowns to lead the Dayton rushing attack … Dayton had four takeaways against Nederland last week, including a pair of interceptions by Azrae Beechum … Merkle Judge had a fumble recovery on a massive stop at the goal line against the Bulldogs in the third quarter … Dayton is looking to avoid its first three-game losing streak since the end of last season … Lake Creek hasn’t dropped three straight games since early in the 2021 season.
DISTRICT 8-5A DIVISION II STANDINGS
Team, District Record (Overall Record)
Port Neches-Groves, 2-0 (5-0)
Montgomery, 2-0 (5-0)
Nederland, 2-0 (4-1)
Huntsville, 1-1 (3-2)
West Fork, 1-1 (2-3)
Splendora, 0-2 (2-3)
Dayton, 0-2 (2-3)
Lake Creek, 0-2 (2-3)
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