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DAYTON — Senior quarterback Ayden Sunday accounted for five touchdowns in Nederland’s convincing 41-17 win over Dayton in District 8-5A DII action Friday night at Broncos Stadium.

“We’re never going to give back wins,” said Nederland coach Scott Rich after the game. “I think we have a standard in our minds on how we are supposed to perform. Yeah, we won a big game and played a good football team, but we can’t turn the ball over four times.

“That’s the kind of things that loom over my head right now. I would like to see us play a little more crisp.”

Sunday completed 6 of 8 passes for 155 yards and four touchdowns. He also rushed for 24 yards, including a 1-yard touchdown run. Hubert Thomas led all rushers with 191 yards on 16 carries with one touchdown. He added two catches for 38 yards and one touchdown.

“Their (Dayton) defensive scheme did a good job tonight and made a point to put as many guys as possible in the box to try and stop (Hubert) Thomas tonight,” said Rich. “We just had to find which formation was going to give them the most trouble and we found a few that worked. He’s good enough to make some plays.

“I’ll take the two interceptions for him because I didn’t have him prepared enough for what was happening in front of him, but I thought he (Sunday) had a good night throwing the ball,” said Rich of his starting quarterback. “Throwing four touchdowns is always great, but I want perfection and so does he.”

Leading 20-10 to start the second half, neither team could muster a scoring drive in the third quarter. Dayton had the best opportunity but missed on a 25-yard field goal.

Nederland (4-1, 2-0) finally put together a productive drive early in the fourth quarter. Thomas did the heavy lifting with five carries for 61 yards. The nine-play drive was capped with a 6-yard touchdown pass from Sunday to TJ Tezeno to push the Bulldogs lead to 27-10 with 6:15 left in the fourth quarter.

That started a flurry of scoring over the final six minutes of game action. Dayton responded with scoring drive. Denim Foster hit Aaron Wright for a 44-yard completion to the Nederland 3. Foster scored on a 3-yard run to make the score 27-17 with 4:48 remaining.

The Bulldogs wasted little time in responding as Sunday hit Leo Contreras for a 50-yard touchdown to push the lead to 34-17 with 2:48 to go in the game.

After Dayton turned the ball over on downs with four straight incompletions, Nederland closed out the scoring when Sunday hit Thomas for a 35-yard scoring strike to make the score 41-17 with 3:13 left in the game.

“The defense played their tails off tonight,” said Rich. “We put them in some binds a couple of times by turning the ball over, but they got us out of those spots just like they have been doing all season.”

 

Nederland started the scoring on their first possession. Sunday hit Contreras for a 39-yard completion to the Broncos 5. Sunday scored two plays later on a quarterback sneak to give the Bulldogs a quick 7-0 lead with 9:18 left in the first quarter. The drive was set up by Cole Guidroz’s fumble recovery.

Dayton (2-3, 0-2) answer back with a scoring drive of their own. Wright went for 25 yards on an end around and Jaleel Kendrick followed with a 28-yard run to the 10. The Broncos had to settle for a 23-yard Mark Arrellano field goal to make the score 7-3.

Sunday’s pass on the first play of the Bulldogs ensuing possession was intercepted by Dayton’s Azrae Beecham at the 48.

The Broncos didn’t waste the good field position. Foster raced up the middle for 27 yards to the Nederland 25. Kendrick scored two plays later on a 20-yard TD run to give Dayton a 10-7 lead with 4:14 left in the first quarter.

The Bulldogs retook the lead early in the second quarter. Dayton tried a fake punt from the 50 on fourth-and-six but gained just one yard. Thomas took the handoff and raced 51 yards for a touchdown to give the Bulldogs a 14-10 lead with 7:18 remaining in the second quarter.

Nederland’s defense forced a punt on the Broncos next possession and took possession at the Dayton 47 following a 21-yard punt.

On second down, Thomas raced down the left sideline for 46 yards and was stopped just short of scoring when he was stood up at the 1 and fumbled trying to reach the ball over the goal line.

Dayton was unable to get any further than the 2 and was forced to punt from its own end zone. The 31-yard punt was returned to the 22.

On the next play from scrimmage, Sunday hit Tezeno for a 22-yard scoring strike. The Bulldogs lined up to kick the extra point but tried a trick play with the holder flipping the ball to kicker Lance Resch, but the attempt was unsuccessful to make the score 20-10 heading into halftime.

THE PLAY OF THE GAME WAS…
Senior running back Hubert Thomas’ 51-yard touchdown run that put the Bulldogs up for good at 14-10 early in the second quarter.

THE GAME BALL GOES TO…
Another split game ball with both Ayden Sunday and Hubert Thomas both deserving recipients. Sunday completed 6 of 8 passes for 155 yards and four touchdowns. Thomas rushed for a game-high 191 yards and had one touchdown rushing and one receiving.

KEY STATS…
Nederland’s Leo Contreras had two catches for 89 yards and one touchdown. TJ Tezeno caught two passes for 28 yards, both of which were for touchdowns. Dayton quarterback Denim Foster completed 7 of 19 passes for 74 yards. He also rushed for 120 yards on 19 carries and one touchdown. Jaleel Kendrick rushed for 105 yards on 15 carries and one touchdown. Aaron Wright had one catch for 45 yards and rushed twice for 20 yards.

UP NEXT…
Nederland stays on the road for a game at West Fork next Friday. Kickoff is set for 7 p.m. Dayton remains at home to host Lake Creek next Friday at 7 p.m.