Though the Class 1A, District 4 river city foes came in Friday night’s game with matching 3-5 records, there was something important on the line: a home playoff game.
True to what has been its calling card this season, the visiting Dayton Greendevils put together a strong first half building a 22-0 halftime lead, and then held off the Ludlow Panthers on their senior night for a 28-21 victory at James Rigney Memorial Stadium.
The Greendevils will play host to a first-round playoff game for the first time since 2007 taking second place in district action behind Newport Central Catholic. Dayton won its first playoff game in 28 years with a 20-7 win at Ludlow last year.
“It’s been steps for us each year,” said Jesse Herbst, Dayton head coach. “We came in 2019 and we were the worst program in the state. In 2021, we made huge steps. I told the guys in practice all week, we can take a step up or a step back. I asked them all week, ‘How will this class be remembered? What’s going to be your legacy? What mark are you going to leave? One going forward or one going backward?’ And that hit home.”
Ludlow came into Friday’s game after a week off since last week’s opponent was Bellevue, which canceled the rest of its season.
“It was great to see we definitely didn’t give up,” said Greg Taphouse, Ludlow head coach. “We kept fighting. It’s just tough when you spot them 22 points. When we click on all cylinders, we can play with anybody. But our biggest enemy is ourselves. We get in our own head. We miscue. We don’t get lined up right. We’re overthinking things or we’re underthinking things and our game shows.”
Ludlow outgained Dayton, 351-255 in total offense including a 211-165 advantage on the ground and had 21 first downs to 14 for the Greendevils. But Dayton made the Panthers go on long and sustained drives averaging between four and five yards per play on 74 plays while exploding for big plays with three touchdowns of at least 85 yards. Dayton ran 46 plays averaging between five and six per play.
Both teams leaned on their leading rushers. Dayton senior running back Landyn Hopper had 166 yards rushing on 23 carries averaging just more than seven per carry with one touchdown. The Greendevils once again did a nice job opening up holes for him and the other running backs using a number of different runs including jet sweeps out of their spread offense.
On the other side, senior quarterback Jaxson Rice had 101 yards rushing on 20 carries averaging just more than five yards per carry in the spread offense. Freshman Dameyn Anness added nine carries or 73 yards for the Panthers.
“You don’t worry about the other team. You worry about yourself,” Herbst said. “When you start worrying about the other team, bad things happen. That’s how we play.”
But the Panthers had to throw the ball more trailing most of the game and Rice completed 10 of 25 passes for 140 yards and a touchdown. Rice had some success throwing to senior Tommy King on slant routes and ultimately on quick passes to the right side in the backfield when Dayton played off him. King had six catches for 72 yards and senior Andrew Kendall had two for 50 yards. But Dayton did record some plays in the backfield putting Ludlow in 3rd-and-long situations.
“(Rice) is so shifty that you have to get him down or you never know. There’s a chance he gets that touchdown,” said Nick Baldwin, Dayton senior lineman. “We practiced quarterback contain all week. You had to break down, know your assignment and get him. There is no excuse. You have to do what you have to do.”
Dayton junior wide receiver Mason Johnson exploded to the Ludlow 45 on the opening kickoff. Seven plays later, the Greendevils grabbed the lead and never gave it up when senior quarterback Russell McIntyre took an option run left and scored from six yards out to put Dayton up 6-0 with 8:05 left in the first quarter. The Greendevils did not score on the two-point conversion pass.
After a combined three punts, Hopper struck big for Dayton. He ran the counter left and exploded for an 85-yard touchdown before Johnson ran in the two-point conversion to put the Greendevils up 14-0 with 7:58 left in the first half.
Ludlow tried to respond driving down to the Dayton 4 for a first-and-goal. But after three plays put the ball at the Greendevil 1 for a fourth-and-goal, the Panthers tried to throw a halfback pass and dropped the wide-open pass in the end zone giving the ball back to the Greendevils.
Dayton proceeded to score on its next possession to go up 22-0 with 2:31 left in the half. Two plays after Johnson ran for 10 yards, Johnson threw a halfback pass to senior running back Dylan Davis for an 85-yard touchdown. Hopper ran in the two-point conversion.
“We really just try to be as perfect on every play as we can in practice,” Davis said. “So when we get in the game, it’s just like practice. We executed like we did in practice all week. We came in and did what we had to do.”
Ludlow came out and scored on its first possession of the second half. Rice scored from five yards out with 7:40 left in the third quarter and completed the two-point conversion pass to Kendall.
However, the Greendevils quickly snatched back the momentum. Johnson took the ensuing kickoff back 95 yards for the touchdown and Dayton led 28-8 after the conversion run failed.
“We knew (the Ludlow) surge was coming and we just needed that,” Johnson said. “I feel like it helped the team out a lot. Thanks to my blockers. (Junior linebacker) Enrique (Soard) had that big block. If he didn’t, I wouldn’t have (scored).”
The Panthers scored twice in the fourth quarter. But they could not get the ball back after the second touchdown to at least try to tie the game.
With about 10:15 left in the fourth quarter, Rice found Kendall on the left side of the end zone for a 38-yard touchdown pass completing an eight-play drive. The point-after-touchdown kick failed from a longer distance after Ludlow drew a 15-yard unsportsmanlike penalty after the touchdown.
Dayton ran nearly five minutes off the clock before punting to the Ludlow 1 with 5:27 left in the game. The Panthers drove down the field and scored on a second-and-goal with 2:08 left in the game when senior Jaylen Bridges scored from seven yards out and Rice made the PAT kick to make the final score.
The Panthers tried the onside kick. But Dayton senior Derrick Turner landed on it at the Greendevil 48 and the Greendevils ran out the clock to leave with the win.
“It was more or less Coach (Herbst) getting on us all week about getting on the ball and not doing anything stupid so when the ball came my way, I just jumped on it and didn’t want to take it anywhere and lose it,” Turner said. “It feels great.”
Rice recorded the game’s lone turnover in the second quarter picking off McIntyre at the Dayton 40 with 1:16 left. But the Panthers could not score after a holding penalty.
“Our biggest frustration is we haven’t put four quarters together,” Taphouse said. “We’re going to get it together and try to make a run in the playoffs.”
Both teams play non-district games Oct. 28 before entering the playoffs. Dayton plays host to winless Eminence at 7:30 p.m. and Ludlow travels to Holy Cross (2-7) for a 7 p.m. battle.
Box Score
Dayton 6 14 6 0 – 28
Ludlow 0 0 8 13 – 21
First Quarter
Dayton (8:05) – Russell McIntyre 7 run (pass failed)
Second Quarter
Dayton (7:58) – Landyn Hopper 87 run (Mason Johnson run).
Dayton (2:31) – Dylan Davis 85 pass from Mason Johnson (Hopper run).
Third Quarter
Ludlow (7:40) – Jaxson Rice 5 run (Andrew Kendall pass from Rice).
Dayton (7:30) – Johnson 95 kickoff return (run failed).
Fourth Quarter
Ludlow (10:25) – Andrew Kendall 38 pass from Rice (kick failed).
Ludlow (2:08) – Jaylen Bridges 7 run (Rice kick).