Dalton Dewey
CRESWELL – Savvy and slippery, senior quarterback Dallton Dewey – an all-league returner in three sports – reliably makes plays for the Bulldogs on offense and alters them on defense. A team leader on and off the football field, Dewey’s racking up stats on both sides of the ball – including five rushing touchdowns in last Friday’s 38-14 victory at Illinois Valley.
”Dallton’s a fantastic rushing quarterback,” said Coach Scott Worsham. ”He breaks loose on a broken play and the next thing you know he’s making players miss tackles and running down the field.”
Although slight at 6-0, 160 pounds, Dewey’s rushing ability is truly impressive. In four preseason games, he leads Creswell with 375 yards, including eight touchdowns on 51 attempts. Several plays per game, opponents’ arms wrap around his legs, Dewey’s legs bend in a way that makes being tackled seem inevitable – yet somehow, he slips out of his would-be tackler’s grasp, remains upright, and weaves between several more defenders to continue his run.
”He is a huge offensive threat both with his arm and legs,” Worsham said. ”He has an uncanny ability to scramble and make opponents miss tackles. It’s unbelievable the tough situations he can get out of and make big plays for us.”
”I have pretty strong legs for the size I am,” said Dewey, who works with weights during team practices but otherwise has no specific training regimen. ”It kind of comes naturally, but our leg workouts help a lot.”
Dewey has also completed 21 of 34 passes for 281 yards through the air, with a touchdown, a two-point conversion and two interceptions.
”He’s an amazing QB; Dallton passes the ball with precision and lays it into the hands of the receiver,” Worsham said.
Defensively, he’s equally strong. An All-League Honorable Mention defensive back in 2018, Dewey’s made five tackles and deflected a pass so far this season – but more importantly, he has the ability to read an opposing QB’s intended pass and cover in a way that forces them to alter it.
”He has a way of frustrating opposing quarterbacks’ attempts to throw his way,” Worsham said, noting that one of Dewey’s tackles against Illinois Valley was ”a big, open-field tackle where the kid caught a pass in the flats and it was just him and Dallton down there, so if Dallton hadn’t made the tackle it was either going to be big yardage or a potential touchdown.”
Now 17, Dewey began playing Pop Warner football in fourth grade: ”I was a running back my first year and quarterback my second year,” he said. He was a wide receiver in sixth and seventh grade at Creswell Middle School but didn’t play eighth-grade football. ”I broke my arm,” he explained.
He played JV his freshman year, was a varsity wide receiver as a sophomore and is in his second year as starting QB for the Bulldogs.
He’s also an All-League basketball and baseball player, receiving basketball Honorable Mention as a guard and was named to the baseball Second Team as an infielder last season.
Dewey’s well-rounded athleticism runs in the family: Dad Shawn ”was a pretty good football player in high school,” he said, while mom Jennifer played basketball and softball; his older brother played soccer and baseball, and his younger brother plays football and baseball and wrestles.
Asked his favorite aspect of football, Dewey’s initial response is perhaps inevitable for the middle of three brothers: ”What I like best about football is how it’s an excuse to hit someone and you don’t get in trouble for it,” he quipped.
More seriously, Dewey said playing offense is actually most satisfying: ”I like the feeling of scoring touchdowns; that feels pretty cool – and I like having defenders bounce off me and I keep going.”
And while the pressure of being essentially the ”leader on the field” might get to some, Dewey relishes it: ”Being quarterback is fun; I like feeling in charge,” he said. ”And,” he added, with the ready accountability of a good leader, ”if something goes wrong, I know whose fault it is – it’s probably mine, most of the time, if I don’t hit the open receiver.”
As co-captain (with Logan Johnson, Tyler Nicol and Tyler Atwood), Dewey indeed takes his leadership role seriously. ”As a captain, I mainly try to stay positive and calm everybody down,” he said. ”If we’re already losing and people get mad and we stop being a team, it’s not going to help anything.”
Those are abilities – and a work and leadership ethic – that Worsham believes could serve Dewey well at the next level.
”Dallton’s a great kid; he’s highly counted on to be a role model both on and off the field,” Worsham said. ”And he’s talented; I definitely feel he could play college football.”
So, if a community or small four-year college were to come calling?
”I’d definitely like to play at that level; I do want to go to college and play some kind of sport,” said Dewey, who plans to study business. ”Probably baseball, but football too; whoever talks to me first, I’d probably go there.”
But for now, Dewey’s focus is on Friday’s final non-league game, at Bandon, and the Bulldogs’ league opener, Oct. 4, hosting sixth-ranked Monroe. Although winless in league last year and 1-2 so far in preseason, Dewey’s optimistic about his team’s potential.
”It’s funny – last year we were a first-half team, and this year we’ve played better in the second half,” Dewey said. ”But if we can just get going in the first half and keep that momentum going, we can definitely win. I think we can be pretty good.”
To younger players hoping to make varsity or even play at the next level someday, ”Just keep working hard, and listen to your coaches,” Dewey advised. ”Do everything the coaches are saying to the best of your ability, and you’ll be all right. Basically, just work hard.”
It’s wisdom Dallton Dewey embodies every week on the football field.
