For Danville's Aidan Burke all the hard work in practice yielded instant gratification during the first home game of the new season.
Burke ran for four touchdowns and snagged one of three Danville interceptions in a 50-21 season-opening victory over Worthington Christian.
"We overcome adversity," said Burke, who gained 145 yards on 23 carries. "We have been doing it all off season through practices, scrimmages, 7-on-7’s and this game especially. My team has my back. I know it, and they know it. We are going to be a great team.”
Danville quarterback Jacob Hackman ran for two touchdowns in the first quarter to spark the Blue Devils to an early lead.
"I thought we did great, a few fumbles really hurt us, but we came back and punched them in the mouth," said Hackman, who was 5-of-7 passing for 107 yards in his first start. "We just had to be physical the whole game.”
According to Danville coach Matt Blum, getting Hackman ready to take control of the offense and securing the secondary were the keys to the preseason.
"We worked on our passing game a lot, obviously having a new quarterback and new receivers we worked a lot on timing and route concepts," said Blum, whose team is 1-0 on the young season. "Also our pass secondary is something we spent a lot of time on, we have a new defensive backs coach that has been awesome, he's been working hard with our young guys in the secondary all off season.”
Danville picked off Worthington Christian quarterback Thomas Hartings three times, so evidently the coaching paid off. Hartings ended the game 13-of-34 for 137 yards with a touchdown.
Carson Proper and Levi Furay also secured picks for the Blue Devils.
"One position group I want to point out is our secondary," said Blum. "Besides that one long pass in the second half we gave up only 100 yards passing to a pass-first offense. I was very happy with the performance and effort that these guys played with tonight."
After Worthington Christian narrowed Danville's lead to 16-14 late in the first quarter, Burke scored on running plays of 35 and 13 yards to give the Blue Devils a 30-14 lead at the half.
Worthington Christian looked to make a game of it after a long pass set up a Gabe Long touchdown run with 4:22 left in the third period.
Danville absorbed the pressure and pulled away with three touchdowns in the fourth quarter. Burke scored two more and Cyren Wallace galloped 44 yards to round out the scoring with 1:34 left in the contest.
“The biggest thing I can take away from today's game is how we came over adversity," said Blum. "In the second half we had some punches thrown our way, and we could have folded, but our kids are strong-willed and they know we just need to play the next play, and give everything they have. That's what they did tonight. I'm just very proud of them."
Worthington Christian running back Gabe Long ran for 108 yards on 27 carries and scored two touchdowns. Zach Kirkley and Musa Boakai each scooped up fumbles to keep Worthington Christian close.
