Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

Go-Devils Break Mustangs in 33-14 Winner

Following the opening kickoff, it appeared as though CAC would march down the field for a touchdown against the undefeated Gurdon Go-Devils Friday night at Gus Brown Field.

However, this wasn't to be as Nick Hughes picked up a fumble on the sixth play from scrimmage and rambled about 40 yards for a Gurdon touchdown. The Devils never looked back as the squad romped to a 33-14 over the Mustangs.

John Larmoyeux fielded the opening kick, returning it to the 25. From there, the Mustangs began methodically moving the ball against the Gurdon defense in large chunks of real estate. CAC had made it to midfield before experiencing its first third down of the night, which failed to produce a first down.

On fourth and short, the ball wound up on the ground and in the hands of Hughes, who sprinted to the promised land. Joshua Thomas split the uprights giving Gurdon a 7-0 lead with 9:25 left in the first period.

The Mustangs attempted to regain their prior momentum, managing one first down, but wound up having to punt the ball to the Devils after five plays.

Gurdon took over at its own 43. Hughes, D.D. Sheppard and Brian McGalliard began an overland assault which ate up most of the period and added six more points to the Go-Devil tally. Sheppard took it in from the four with 10 ticks left on the clock in the initial quarter. The point after attempt was wide, but Gurdon led 13-0.

CAC began the second period at its 16 after bobbling the kick. However, the Devil defense got stingy and only allowed six yards in three plays, forcing the Mustangs to punt.

The punt went off the side of the kicker's foot, after he nearly lost the snap. The ball rolled to the CAC 40, giving Gurdon excellent field position.

McGalliard and company wasted no time in scoring. Sheppard was held to no gain on first and a reverse to Chris Brown had the same result. On third and 10, McGalliard dropped back, winged a screen pass to Sheppard, who, in turn, sprinted through the CAC defense for the third touchdown of the night for the Devils.

With 8:27 left in the half, Gurdon held a 19-0 lead and attempted a two-point conversion. McGalliard first passed to Wesley Buford, who was interfered with, giving Gurdon a second chance. Before the ball was snapped, CAC was flagged for being offside. With the ball at the one, McGalliard took the snap found Buford and completed the conversion. Gurdon led 21-0.

Once again, the Devil defense had no intention of giving ground to any Mustang player. The visitors went three and out, giving Gurdon the ball at the Devil 43.

Sheppard carried the mail three times in the four-play drive, with Hughes getting the other carry. On the fourth play of the drive, Sheppard took the pitch on a sweep at the CAC 41 went around left end and scored with 5:08 left in the first half.

Thomas was having an off night as his try for point after again went wide.

The Mustangs did their dance routine again, one, two, three, kick as the CAC offense could do little against Gurdon's defense.

With 2:30 left in the half, Gurdon's offense took over at the CAC 45. Hughes and Sheppard moved the line of scrimmage to the CAC 12 on four downs. McGalliard completed a pass to Travonn Crow at the six and kept to the four as time ran out in the half.

The Devils took the opening kick of the second half, but proved to be their ownworst enemy, as what appeared to be a promising drive stalled because of penalties, and forced the Gurdon squad to punt.

When the 'Ponies took over, they were aided by more Gurdon miscues, which allowed the CAC squad to score its first touchdown. The first problem came when Aaron Walters, CAC signalcaller, scrambled on a busted pass play. After a 16-yard run, he found himself on the receiving end of a late hit, which added another 15 to the play.

The next mistake came when CAC faced a third and short when the Devils were flagged for a personal foul, moving the ball from the Gurdon 12 to the 6. Two plays later, the Go-Devils saw more laundry float to the ground as they were tagged with an offside penalty, giving the Mustangs the ball at the 3. Richard Carney carried twice before finding the endzone.

The point after was blocked as Hughes barreled in from the left side and took the kick between the 4 and the 1 on his chest.

The Devils apparently didn't like seeing the shutout go by the wayside, as the offense put another six on the board in short order.

Mario Charles fielded the kick at his 20 and returned it to the 42. The Devils were aided by a CAC penalty for hitting out of bounds, as Charles was nailed after crossing the sideline in front of the Gurdon bench. This put the ball at the Mustang 42.

McGalliard utilized his arsenal of weapons effectively keeping the Mustangs off balance as Sheppard would ramble, almost at will, through the line. McGalliard also made use of his right arm in completing a middle screen to Brown for 15 yards.

On the sixth play of the drive, with the Devils at the CAC 2, McGalliard went in on a quarterback sneak to give his team a 33-6 lead with 3:27 left in the third.

Again Thomas' boot was wide, but the Devils had an insurmountable lead.

The Mustangs mounted the final scoring drive of the night following the kick off.

Taking over at the CAC 26, Walters marched his team downfield, mixing runs and passes to keep the Gurdon defense honest.

The third quarter ended with the 'Ponies at Gurdon's 7. Two plays into the final 12 minutes, the Mustangs broke through for their final touchdown. The try for two was good, narrowing the margin to 33-14.

From there, neither offense was able to sustain a drive.

As the final gun sounded, the Devils went to the lockers with thoughts of opening conference play against the Fordyce Redbugs next week.

Unofficial statistics show Sheppard with 126 yards on 19 carries with two touchdowns for a 6.6 yard per carry effort. Hughes netted 60 yards on 10 carries, for a six-yard per tote average. McGalliard added 14 yards on five attempts, with two scores as well. Charles managed nine yards on two carries.

McGalliard was five of seven in the passing department, for 84 yards. His counterpart, Walters was five of 12 for 55 yards.

Gurdon punted twice for 50 yards and allowed no return yardage. CAC punted five times, for 132 yards and gave up 32 yards in returns.

The Go-Devils were penalized four times for 39 yards, while the Mustangs saw eight flags hit the turf for 52 yards.

Gurdon fumbled the ball once, losing it. CAC put the ball on the ground three times, coughing it up once.

The Devils ran 44 offensive plays, for a total of 293 yards, 209 on the ground. TheMustangs had 37 plans for 193 yards, 138 rushing.

Gurdon's defense also accounted for two s