Dayton Football Back To Winning Ways

Maybe the Dayton Bulldogs should play on short rest more often, if Thursday night's resounding 38-14 thumping of rival Bound Brook was any indication.     

Led by the talents of do-everything senior Skyler Apicella and long receptions from senior receiver Aaron Williams, Dayton [1-1] bounced back from last Saturday's disappointing season opener and played like the team that went to the playoffs last season.        

Head coach Joe Goerge saw an entirely different team—and liked what he saw.               

"We challenged our team of course. It was a short week and we had to put New Providence to rest by Sunday," said Goerge, who added that his team was itching to redeem itself. "We had to admit, 'Hey, we got our butts kicked. And it's on film.' But we had to come out and get ready for Bound Brook because it's going to go fast."        

Dayton got off to a fast start after a quarterback keeper from Anthony Cioffi in the first quarter, giving the Bulldogs a 6-0 lead—the conversion failed. But Dayton couldn't relax too much as the Crusaders [0-2] marched right down the field to take the lead. Goerge said the quick strike could've gone either way: his team lies down and says 'here we go again' or fight back. Thankfully he said the team took the latter option.           

"We were happy we just scored and we can't even blink on the sidelines [because] we're losing 7-6," said Goerge. "But special teams play brings tremendous momentum change. Next thing you know we're up 18-7 and that had them reeling a little bit."     

The biggest play came on the opening play of the second quarter, as Dayton got a 68-yard punt return for a touchdown by Apicella, who weaved and juked his way down the left sidelines. The touchdown proved to be the decisive points, as it gave the Bulldogs an 18-7 advantage.    

"It felt really good because it separated us from Bound Brook," said Apicella, who praised Cioffi for one of the key blocks on the play.  

Apicella, who plays multiple positions, said it's so rewarding to beat teams in many different manners.          

"I play wherever they need me. Whatever coach wants because I'm versatile and can play a lot of positions," said Apicella. "I take pride in everything but the return is more fun because when you take one back it feels good."       

Goerge added he was happy the way his team handled adversity and was pleased he got contributions from multiple players—including running back Carl Korieocha, who legged out an 82-yard touchdown run to give Dayton a 26-7 lead. The Korieocha run separated Dayton, as the offense turned to its ground game to combat the weather. There was a torrential downpour for most of the first half, leading to mishandled balls and guys on both teams dropping passes. Fumble-itis reared its head again for Dayton early but was soon corrected.           

Apicella said he was proud how his team matured Thursday night and learned to roll with the punches.        

"You always deal with adversity in a football game. Whether it's the other team or the weather but you try to get through it."       

Goerge agreed with his senior leader.     

"We fumble early and had some adversity. But this is high school football and you're going to face adversity," said George. "But how you bounce back is key and we shut them down in the second half."         

Bound Brook scored its final points with six seconds remaining in the first half—a three-yard run by senior running back Andrew Campolattano—but never challenged again in the second half. The Crusaders had no answer for the Bulldogs' ground game and even allowed Dayton to get its once dormant passing game clicking. Williams, who was practically ignored in the passing game during the first half, finally got to take advantage of the mismatch, using his 6'3" frame against the smaller Bound Brook corners.            

Midway through the third quarter, Cioffi found himself under duress with not many options—except to heave a jumpball to Williams, who was tightly covered. The ball was slightly under-thrown, yet Williams maneuvered himself in between two defensive backs and out-jumped them. When he landed, he found himself with about 20 yards of green frontier ahead of him, upon which he raced to the front corner of the end zone for the 34-yard reception, giving Dayton a 32-14 advantage.        

Williams, who gave credit to some nice blocking downfield on the play, said there was no way any Crusader was going to stop him on that play.   

"I was determined. I had to get in there because I know my touches are going to be limited, so I had to make it count," he said with a smile. "You don't ever really hear about Dayton getting receiving touchdowns so it feels good to do that."           

Goerge said the rain had more to do with Williams's lack of targets in the first half and said he was anxious to turn his receiver loose in the second half.        

"We tried a couple of times. That was the plan. But we had some trouble at first even getting it out there," said Goerge. "Even on the touchdown he had to come back for it and then he got some nice blocks downfield. If we can get the ball downfield more to him, that's a potential big-play receiver because he goes up and gets it. You ain't kidding [about the advantages] when it's 6'3 going up against 5'8 every week."      

Williams also caught a 22-yarder from running back Jesse Bell on a halfback option pass despite being double-teamed again. Such determination was the key to winning, according to Williams.     

"We just wanted it more. We knew what we had to do when we came out here," said Williams, who added that Wagner is one of the schools looking at him the most. "We had to bounce back and do what we had to do."       

Apicella gave credit to his offensive line and said this is the real Dayton Bulldogs team; not the team that suffered a "fluke" loss the previous week.    

Goerge admitted as much, saying he felt that Thursday night was truly JDHS football.      

"It's what you want to see because we knew we could play better than what you saw against New Providence. And I think they showed that," he said. "Score doesn't mean a thing. We were just looking to come out and play hard, play good, and play aggressive."    

The Bulldogs did just that and now have nine days to rest and get ready for yet another conference rival, Brearley, Sept. 25.