Romeo senior Dalton Siracoff bided his time, waiting for his number to be called in a big spot.
That moment came while a pass floated his direction in a MAC Red showdown against Macomb Dakota, with the Bulldogs trailing late in the fourth quarter on the road.
All night, the player the Bulldogs call "Salty Dalty' and the Romeo defense patiently waited for a Dakota deep shot. Halfway through the fourth quarter, the Cougars, with a five-point lead after an interception by Boston College commit Elijah Goins, pushed the ball downfield, looking for the clinching blow in a potential upset.
But Siracoff won the one-on-one battle for a jump ball, coming down with an interception at his own 13. The
turnover led to an 87-yard touchdown drive, aided by a hook-and-lateral completion to convert on third down. Quarterback Tyler DeCardenas hit Austin Kilcyone on a 5-yard hitch. He then pitched it to Landen Fetty, who took off for 77 yards down the sidelines.
"I've always been the guy behind the next guy," Siracoff said. "I like that I got my shot. Obviously, it is unfortunate that Troy [Smith] got injured, but I've really wanted to do something for my team and help us get wins."
The Bulldogs punched in the game-winning touchdown on a 1-yard run from Parker Cohoon with just over four minutes left in the Bulldogs' 36-26 win over Dakota. Romeo, ranked No. 12 in Michigan and No. 8 in Division 1, moved to 4-0 with the late rally.
Siracoff has had to handle more responsibility since Romeo's senior star Troy Smith suffered a shoulder injury in a Week 1 win over Rochester Adams at Michigan Stadium. He did a little bit of everything in all three phases to pull Romeo to a key conference win.
"It means a lot to me," Siracoff said. "I've been wanting to do this for years. It's my dream. So I'm really excited to see what the rest of the season has to offer."
Against Dakota (2-2), his first touch came on the second possession, with Romeo already behind 14-0. Dakota scored on the second play of the game with a 71-yard rushing touchdown on a speed option by Jeramiah Aaron. The Cougars forced a Romeo three-and-out on its first possession, then scored again on an 18-yard connection between quarterback Owen Thomas and Goins.
"I think they had a little more motivation than what we did," said Romeo coach Curt Rienas. "They came out on fire. We knew that potentially could happen but the resiliency and fighting back from our kids was really good to see."
Siracoff received a sweep from right to left and took off for a 51-yard touchdown, making it 14-7. Two possessions later, he turned a third-and-3 sweep into a 67-yard touchdown after dancing around a handful of tackles.
The Bulldogs scored all five of their touchdowns on sweeps or off-tackle runs. Romeo got great blocking from Kilcoyne, tight end Brayden Watson and receiver Parker Ciak on the edge. It also helped slow down a ferocious Dakota pass rush from defensive ends A.J. Arini (four sacks) and Marquis Carey (one sack, forced fumble). Ciak and Fetty also scored rushing touchdowns for Romeo.
"Shout out to Austin Kilcyone," Siracoff said. "He had perfect blocks on those touchdown runs, taking on multiple linebackers. That's what really had me scoring those touchdowns."
Romeo jumped ahead 21-14 in the third quarter, but Dakota answered with a Thomas touchdown pass to Santino Lucci and a Thomas touchdown run after Carey's strip sack, taking a 26-21 lead.
It looked dire for the Bulldogs after Goins pulled down an interception on the next possession. But Siracoff was ready and perfectly timed his jump on the interception.
"We call him 'Salty Dalty' because he is always such a fiery competitor," Rienas said.
Romeo had to dig deep but found the reserves necessary to keep their goals on track. At halftime, the Bulldogs' coaches showed clips from the first half of how close they were to big defensive plays, urging them to find that extra bit of effort needed to convert those.
Those plays started to come up in Romeo's favor during the late winning moments. Led by a senior ready for his moment, Romeo did what it needed to move toward their goals of repeating as MAC Red champions on Friday.
"That was a big gut check," Rienas said. "We needed one of those tests to see how we respond to some adversity. I was proud of the way they dug deep. At half, we showed them clips of them one foot away from making sacks, making tackles. We just needed a little extra effort, and they really stepped up and did that in the second half."
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Jared Ramsey covers high school sports for the Detroit Free Press. Contact him at jramsey@freepress.com.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Dalton Siracoff lives dream for Romeo with two-way heroics vs Dakota
