Mount Vernon News

DANVILLE — The Danville Blue Devils used a strong defensive performance and a dominating rushing attack to defeat the Dalton Bulldogs, 13-6, Friday night. Danville (2-1) rushed for 252 yards and held Dalton to 119 total yards of offense on the way to the Blue Devils’ second victory.

The night started slowly for the Blue Devils. Dalton scored on its first possession, an 80-yard drive which ended with a 7-yard touchdown run. Along the way the Bulldogs picked up four first downs and looked very solid. Danville rallied and the Blue Devils’ defense stepped up big, blocking the extra point attempt and not allowing another touchdown on the night.

The defense rose to the occasion, but the offense was repeatedly stalled, and turnovers and penalties stopped Danville from mounting a significant offensive attack until there was just :54 left in the half.

The Blue Devils’ Chris Liptak intercepted a Dalton pass at Dalton’s 41 yard line and ran it back for 19 yards. Dalton then committed a personal foul, giving the Blue Devils the ball on the 12 yard line. On a fourth and 12, Gatlin Ridgeway scrambled to his left and nearly scored a touchdown as time expired in the half, missing the end zone by no more than a foot.

“The offensive line really stepped up and we seemed to come together as a team for the first time,” Ridgeway said. “I felt really comfortable behind that line; they came up big for us.”

Other than the last drive, Danville had a rough first half. The Blue Devils committed six penalties and struggled to make themselves a presence in the game.

“We came out a little flat and made a lot of mistakes early on,” said Danville interim head coach Charlie Duncan. “That’s not the way we wanted to come out. We had a lot of penalties and miscues. We came in at halftime and made the adjustments we needed to, and it worked out for us in the second half. We came out with a lot more spark in us.”

Danville rode the wave of the momentum into the second half, scoring on its second possession after recovering Dalton fumble. Liptak again came up big on the defensive side of the ball, recovering the fumble and allowing Danville to gain possession in the red zone. This time Danville was able to capitalize, as Ridgeway threw a 12-yard touchdown pass to Kelby Ball. But the two-point conversion failed, tying the game at 6.

“It was a great screen pass,” said Ridgeway. “We set it up perfect and Kelby had a great catch. We came out fired up in the second half. From the first possession, our line was blocking and doing what it had to do. They stepped up to the challenge and we played really well in the second half.”

“We had to challenge them at halftime,” said Duncan. “We were getting beat on the line and we knew we had to do something about that. The guys really stepped up to that challenge. We had 12 penalties last week, so we really expressed that we needed to cut that this week. I was really disappointed that we had six right off the bat in the first half. We talked about it at half. We were really hurting ourselves more than they were hurting us. It needed corrected, and I think we did much better in the second half.”

Danville again came up big with 2:49 left in the third quarter, recovering another Dalton fumble and starting a drive that ended on a Nash Helms 1-yard touchdown run with 10:33 left in the game. Helms nailed the extra point, completing the scoring for the matchup.

Danville begins MBC action next week, as the Blue Devils play host to the 2-1 Loudonville squad, the conference opener for both teams.

“We start league play next week against Loudonville,” Duncan said. “The Red Birds are a much improved team this year, and we just need to come in and play mistake-free football.”

Kickoff for next week’s matchup at Memorial Stadium is set for 7:30 p.m.