Friday’s Mount Gilead Indians at Danville Blue Devils matchup, featuring two of the best teams in the Knox Morrow conference, was a battle of two halves.
The first half featured blocked punts, turnovers and deep shots down the field, while the second displayed a Johnny Football-like Matt Bland trying to will his team back into the game.
In the end, Danville (7-2) came out victorious, 19-8, as it took advantage of most of its scoring opportunities, and Mount Gilead (5-4) left points on the board.
Mount Gilead started the game with the ball and was quickly forced into a three-and-out. Danville took advantage of its first possession of the game, converting on a fourth-down-and-5 with a perfect pass to the sideline from quarterback Walker Weckesser to get into the red zone. On the next play, running back Max Payne punched it in for six points, taking it untouched into the end zone. The extra point gave Danville a 7-0 lead.
Mount Gilead’s second drive was much more promising, with a series of Houdini escapes on third down. Quarterback Matt Bland converted a series of long third downs, using his legs on designed runs or on throws scrambling to the right. On one play, while scrambling and weaving between defenders, he held the ball in front of him with one hand as if daring the defense to take it from him before pulling it away. Forced into a fourth-down-and-15, deep in Blue Devil territory, the Indians chose to go for it. It looked like Danville had wrapped up Bland for a sack, but he somehow managed to find his open receiver past the first-down marker. However, the referee blew his whistle early, marking the play dead. The away fans showed their disdain with boos as their team turned the ball over on downs.
Danville slowly and methodically worked its way inside Mount Gilead’s 30-yard line, using screen passes and runs up the middle to convert first downs. However, the drive came to an end on fourth down as Weckesser’s pass was just behind his intended receiver past the first-down marker. On Mount Gilead’s next drive, Bland overthrew his target deep, forcing the Indians to punt deep in their own territory. Danville then flipped the script of the game, coming up with a punt block that bounced out of the end zone for a safety.
Danville returned the ensuing punt inside Indians' territory. A couple of Weckesser dimes, finished by a perfect ball into the back of the end zone to Caleb Lucas, allowed Danville to take a 16-0 lead in the closing minutes of the first half. While Mount Gilead got the ball back on its own 46 after a short kick, an interception of an errant Bland toss gave Danville an opportunity to tack onto the lead. In the final seconds of the first half, Weckesser made his best pass of the night, finding his receiver, Gio Cline, 45 yards down the field while on the run to set up a chip-shot field goal as the second quarter clock expired.
Danville started the second half with the ball, as the opening kickoff rolled out of bounds to give the Blue Devils great field position at their own 40. A deep pass from Weckesser found his receiver right down the middle at the 18-yard line. After a screen pass and a QB sneak set up first-and-goal, Danville was on the doorstep of putting the game out of reach. However, the Indians' defense held strong, forcing a fourth-and-goal, which they met by swatting down the fourth-down pass in the end zone.
Immediately following the defensive stand, Bland threw a screen pass to Owen High, whose sideline route outran everyone, taking the ball 76 yards for a score. On the two-point conversion attempt, Bland creatively scrambled up to 20 yards behind the line of scrimmage before finding his intended target in the back of the end zone. The highlight-reel play gave Mount Gilead the momentum despite being down 19-8.
However, the rest of the game consisted of a series of missed opportunities for the Indians. After stopping Danville’s offensive attack on the next drive, a good punt return put them in enemy territory. They were unable to take advantage, as Bland’s exciting scrambling in the pocket came back to bite him with a 20-yard loss on fourth down. As Danville played more conservatively, milking down the clock on run plays, Mount Gilead continued to come up with stops.
Bland led two drives into the red zone in the fourth quarter, trying to make it a one-score game. On the first, he again scrambled frenetically, finding Logan High on a deep jump ball all the way down to the 21-yard line. However, a dropped touchdown pass in the back of the end zone set up a fourth-and-four, and another attempt at some scrambling magic and a dive at the first-down marker came up just short, resulting in a turnover on downs.
When given another chance in the final minutes of the fourth quarter, Bland put on a show once again. Scrambling to the right on a third-and-long, he evaded a QB spy and dodged more defenders for an unlikely first down. Scrambling deep in the backfield, he found a receiver for a tough catch inside the 10. However, a false start penalty negated a touchdown pass, and another false start penalty on first-and-goal backed the team up further. On fourth down, Mount Gilead dropped another pass in the end zone, ending any realistic chance of victory.
Mount Gilead coach Mike Reid gave credit to Danville for a great performance but lamented his team’s missed opportunities.
“Danville had a great defensive game plan and took a lot away from us early on,” Reid said. “We made a lot of uncharacteristic mistakes in the early going as well – a turnover, four penalties and a blocked punt are not how you want to start the game. In the second half, we were able to keep Danville off the scoreboard and were able to put together some really good drives, but we just did not finish. We left some points out there tonight. Like anything else, we will use this to learn from and get better. It’s Cardington week now.”
Stat leaders included Danville’s Weckesser 12-for-22 in the air for 169 yards and Max Payne with 21 carries for 106 yards. Kaiden Colopy caught four passes, and Caleb Lucas caught two TDs. Levi Lyons had eight solo tackles and was in on a dozen stops. Aidan Burke made seven solo tackles and had a hand in 10. For Mount Gilead, Bland was 13-for-27 in the air for 208 yards and gained 97 yards on the ground on 17 carries. Owen High caught three passes for 105 yards, and Logan High caught four for 68 yards.
On Oct. 21, Mount Gilead takes on Cardington-Lincoln, and Danville prepares for the annual Devil-Dog game vs. East Knox.
