The 66th annual Devil-Dog game, a battle between the Danville Blue Devils and the East Knox Bulldogs, took a turn Friday as the Danville Blue Devils (8-2) earned a statement win over the East Knox Bulldogs (2-8), who had won in each of the past four years.
While the game was close most of the way through, with both teams showing offensive firepower out of the gate, Danville came away with a 42-21 win as East Knox ultimately could not keep up with Max Payne, Kaiden Colopy and the Blue Devil offense.
After shutting down East Knox on the opening drive, Danville opened up the scoring through the physical running of Payne and the speed and elusiveness of Colopy. On third down, Payne exploded around the outside, breaking tackles for a 38-yard run to the East Knox 22-yard line. A slant from quarterback Walker Weckesser to Colopy set up a first-down-and-goal, and then Colopy finished things off by taking an end around run to the left side for a touchdown.
East Knox’s 7-0 deficit did not last long, as on the first play of its second drive, Cole Delaughder got to the outside and outran everyone on the left sideline for an 80-yard touchdown.
Now 7-7, on the kickoff, Payne juked defenders and seemed to be on his way to the end zone until he was finally tripped up at the 3-yard line. On the next play, Weckesser’s pass into the end zone was deflected at the line, but Colopy still managed to reel it in to put Danville back up by a touchdown.
Not to be outdone, in the closing moments of the first quarter, EK’s Carson Steinmetz ran into the end zone untouched from 40 yards. The run featured an athletic juke, which left a pair of Danville defenders on the ground to contemplate the meaning of life and their own existence.
Danville’s next drive was derailed by penalties, giving East Knox an opportunity to take its first lead of the game. After working into East Knox territory, however, Delaughder was stuffed in the backfield on a fourth-and-two, giving the ball and momentum back to the Blue Devils. Payne continued his incredible first half performance by again running through everyone, and then finding the left sideline for a 56-yard rushing touchdown, allowing Danville to go up 21-14 at the half.
East Knox stopped Danville on the opening drive of the second half, but a perfect coffin corner punt left East Knox backed up at its own 1-yard line. After Danville forced a three-and-out, East Knox was forced to punt out of its own end zone, and Danville got to start out its next drive at the East Knox 38-yard line.
After a Payne run brought the Blue Devils into the red zone, Colopy scored another touchdown on a slant route, allowing Danville to take a two-touchdown lead.
After the next drive for each side stalled, Steinmetz was able to conjure up one last moment of magic, just as the East Knox offense was starting to stall. Colliding with a Danville defender while catching a ball from quarterback Jax Lester over the middle, Steinmetz outran the Danville defense for a 75-yard touchdown, decreasing the deficit to a single touchdown.
However, from there, the East Knox offense did stall out, and Danville was able to take a commanding hold of the game. On the next drive, Danville slowly and methodically worked its way down the field before finishing things off with a touchdown pass from Payne, the Devils’ wildcat QB, to Josh Byers Jr. Midway through the fourth quarter, Payne put the game on ice, directing a drive down the field and finishing the march with a touchdown run up the middle to make the final score 42-21.
“Today was just the perfect way to finish off the regular season for all of the seniors," said Payne, a senior. "It’s the first win that any of us have against East Knox, and the first time that we’ve gotten to hold this trophy. It was a huge milestone for me personally to reach 1,000 yards on the season.”
Finishing off a successful first regular season as Danville’s coach, Matt Blum said, “Being able to come here in front of all of these fans and do what we did tonight, it just means everything to us. It’s a culmination of everything that we’ve worked so hard for over the last seven months, and all I do is feel thankful.”
Leading the stat sheet for Danville were Weckesser, 13-for-21 in the air for 131 yards and three TDs, and Payne, with 186 yards rushing on 21 carries. Colopy caught seven passes for 74 yards, and on defense, Levi Lyons was in on 10 tackles and Kendall Carter was in on nine.
Danville now leads the series, 41-24-1.
