President Bill Clinton occupied the White House the last time the Dayton Greendevils won a home playoff football game.
Dayton added another such win on Friday at O.W. Davis Field, 22-7 over a visiting Berea team held scoreless for nearly 27 minutes. Dayton (6-5 overall) travels to Louisville on Friday to take on Kentucky Country Day (8-2) at 7:30 p.m. in the Class 1A second round.
Dayton called senior running back Landyn Hopper’s number early and often as he opened the game’s scoring with a 41-yard touchdown to put the Greendevils’ ahead 6-0. Much like their opening six-play drive that featured Hopper on five plays, Dayton continued to use his hard running style to wear down a Pirates squad that dressed only 20 players. Dayton’s recent spate of injuries made the Class 1A match a battle of wills.
Berea beat Dayton handily, 49-6 during the regular season Oct. 4, 2019 but the Greendevils turned the tide with more on the line.
Senior Yamil Cruz was the Pirates’ main offensive cog on Friday as Berea looked to him on key downs. After senior cornerback Isaiah Dorsey intercepted Greendevil quarterback Russell McIntyre at the six-yard line, Cruz’s run to the 40 placed Berea in good field position.
Several plays later, Berea senior quarterback Jayson Coburn found Dorsey for a first down, then Cruz ran 13 yards to put Berea inside the Dayton 10. But a one-yard loss followed by a false start penalty backed the Pirates up to the 15. Shawn Kiett ran behind Dayton defenders on the ensuing play as Coburn spotted the wide-open junior in the end zone to take a 7-6 lead.
On its final possession before halftime, Hopper carried the Greendevils’ 72 yards on 11 runs to get Dayton inside the 10. Hopper’s first-and-goal run lost yards, then he was stopped short on second down. Dayton called Derrick Turner’s name on third down and he was stuffed, and McIntyre’s fourth down keeper lost yards and possession to Berea.
Hopper showed up on the defensive side of the ball for Dayton to begin the third quarter. As the Pirates faced third down on their own 25, Coburn’s pass sailed over junior wide receiver Nik Ballew’s head and into Hopper’s hands. With good field position inside Berea territory to begin its first possession of the second half, Dayton reached the 15, where Head Coach Jesse Herbst decided to kick a field goal.
“It was something we started working on two weeks ago. I’m a firm believer in going for two every time, get half of them, get it done,” Herbst said. “I thought we might need it, so we worked on it for the past few weeks and had it in our back pocket.”
After Chad Nickell’s 30-yarder gave the Greendevils’ a 9-7 edge, Herbst commended the way his defense stepped up Friday night to keep the Pirates’ scoreless after its early touchdown.
“Amazing. Amazing. We’ve been waiting all year long to play four quarters,” Herbst said. “Defensively, we would play two quarters but never three and four. We played four quarters tonight.”
The Greendevils caught the Pirates flat-footed to begin the final quarter as Hopper ran around his right side on third down like he had multiple times. However, he stopped and spotted Mason Johnson headed toward the end zone. Johnson caught Hopper’s pass as he fell across the goal line. Despite missing the extra point, the Greendevils led 15-7.
McIntyre intercepted Berea’s final scoring threat midway through the quarter. Hopper tacked on his final touchdown of the evening on a late five-yard run to put the game out of reach.
“We have a lot of key players, key athletes but we’re thin,” Herbst said. “We have no depth right now and so many injuries. We lost three starters in the past week, our best defender, corner, and our center so we lost a lot. We’re just thin but we still have to make plays.”