Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

Gurdon Go-Devils Rally Past Prescott Curley Wolves, 12-3

Gurdon took a beaten and battered team to Prescott Friday night to renew an old rivalry.

The Devils had five players injured in the Lakeside game the week before, including Eddie Fort, who is out for the year with a broken leg.

But, injuries and records don't count when Gurdon and Prescott meet on the gridiron.

It was Prescott's homecoming, and the Devils spoiled it with a 12-3 win, though the victory didn't come easily.

The Wolves won the toss to get the game underway, and started on the 35 after the kickoff went out of bounds.

Prescott relied on the Wing-T's movement to confuse Gurdon's defense during the first drive, as the Wolves marched to the Devil 31.

At this point, though, the Devils figured out the misdirection of the Wing-T and began putting the leather to Wolf runners. Prescott had to give the ball up on downs at the Gurdon 31.

It was three and out for the Devils as O.B. Moss slipped with open field in front of him on second down. An incomplete pass on third forced Gurdon to punt.

Prescott again started from the Wolf 35, gaining a yard on three plays and having to return the favor.

Moss fielded the punt at Gurdon's 25, returning it to the 46. The Devils moved to Prescott's 30 before fumbling the ball away at the 24.

Prescott relied on a little razzle-dazzle as Josh Bullock tossed the ball to Mark Jones, who winged it back to Bullock for a 33-yard completion at the Gurdon 42.

The Wolves managed to get to the Gurdon 33 before Jeremy Means picked off a Bullock pass at the four.

The Devil offense sputtered and had to punt after three plays netted five yards. Colby Pace's punt went off the side of his foot, coming to rest at Gurdon's 26.

This put Prescott in excellent field position, but the Wolves couldn't take advantage of the situation and wound up going backwards.

Back to back runs by Jones moved the ball to the Gurdon 17. Bryan Joseph lost the handle, but was called down at the 15.

This ticked the Devil "D" off, with Jones meeting Means in the backfield for a six-yard loss.

Prescott was called for clipping on the next play and moved back to the 42. At this point, Means introduced himself to Bullock at the 48.

Third down saw Bullock's pass almost picked off by Pace.

This set up a fourth and long for Prescott. The snap sailed over Bullock's head, with a scramble ensuing.

Bullock managed to snag the errant pigskin and fire it downfield. However, it round up in the hands of Gurdon's Dennis Brown, who returned it to the Devil 45.

A flag for illegal man downfield was declined with 3:33 left in the half.

The Devils battled to Prescott's 35 and were looking at a fourth and two situation.

Pace handed to Moss on a sweep, Moss found a seam, turned upfield and sprinted to the end zone for an apparent touchdown.

This, though, wasn't to be as the officials dropped a flag late. It was so late Moss was at the five before the zebra removed it from his pocket.

An illegal procedure call against Gurdon moved the ball back five yards and set up a punting situation.

Pace suffered a fate similar to Bullock with a high snap. The ball, though, was downed at midfield.

Means sacked Bullock on first down, with Lasiter picking Bullock off on the next play.

With five seconds left, Pace took a knee and both teams went to the lockers for halftime.

It was Gurdon's ball to start the second half, with K.P. Meeks fielding the kick at the 15, returning it to the 26.

Two plays saw Gurdon at the 41, aided by a five-yard facemask call against the Wolves.

However, a third down screen to Plyler lost yardage, forcing another punt.

Young fumbled the ball at the 34, but managed to fall on it for Prescott.

Following a two-yard gain on first down, Prescott benefitted from a 15-yard penalty against Gurdon on a facemask call. This put the ball on the Devil 49.

The Wolves moved to the 39. Second down saw Bullock hit Rafael Marlowe with a screen, with Marlowe taking it to the 25. But flags were all over the field.Prescott was called for illegal motion, with Gurdon flagged for facemask. The penalties offset and the play nullified.

This stopped the Wolf drive, forcing yet another punt, this time with the ball rolling to the 13.

Moss fumbled on first down, with Prescott recovering at Gurdon's 13. This was Prescott's best chance of the night to score with 5:31 left in the third.

The Wolves managed seven yards on a pass from Bullock to Young, but had to settle for a 22-yard field goal attempt.

With 3:28 showing, Marlowe booted it through to give the Wolves a 3-0 lead.

Pace fielded the kick at the 10, returning it to the 23, where he was tackled by Young. A scuffle ensued with both benches clearing.

However, no flags were thrown and neither player was ejected from the game.

The Devils wound up losing seven yards on three plays and had to punt.

Young touched the ball at the Prescott 48 and was able to recover it at the Wolf 37 after a scramble for the fumble.

First down saw Prescott flagged for clipping and moved to the 28 from the spot of the foul.

Chris Williams followed this by sacking Bullock at the 24. Prescott's quarterback fumbled, but recovered the ball, as play ended in the third quarter.

The final 12 minutes opened with Means picking Bullock off and Prescott being flagged for illegal man downfield again. The interception, though, was waived off by the officials, but the penalty was marked off, forcing the Wolves to punt.

Gurdon took over at midfield, with Lasiter gaining 19 on first down. Moss added a yard on the next play, but lost three on second down.

Pace hit Plyler at the 20, but a called fumble was picked up by Prescott and returned to the 38. The officials allowed this to stand, though Plyler had hit the ground before the ball came loose.

Three plays later Prescott was again lined up in punt formation. Gurdon's rush got through, a hand was put on the ball, blocking the kick, with the Devils falling on it at the Prescott 26 with 6:57 left in the game.

Moss lost nine yards on first down, but Pace hit Plyler at the 19. A flag was thrown, but Gurdon declined the interference call, taking the yardage instead.

Moss got free and scored to give Gurdon a 6-3 lead with 5:46 to go. The point after was wide left.

Craig Teague fielded the kickoff, with one knee touching on the 21.

Bullock was sacked for a three-yard loss, had a pass attempt misfire on second down and was sacked again on third down for a loss of 10.

Gurdon had no one back for the punt, expecting a fake. The ball rolled to the Devil 47, but Gurdon was flagged for an illegal block and the play done again.

The 15-yards from the penalty weren't enough for a Prescott first down, and the Wolves again punted. This time with the ball rolling dead at Gurdon's 36.

Working the clock, Gurdon ran the ball three times and punted back to the Prescott 28 with 2:39 showing.

Four passes gained five yards with Gurdon taking over at Prescott's 30 with 2:18 left in the game.

Again it was one, two, three, kick for the Devils, as Gurdon took a delay of game call to move five yards further back for a better punting angle.

Young fielded the kick at the four with 13 seconds left in the game.

A fumble on first down gave Gurdon the ball on the one with five ticks left.

Possibly out of frustration for the way the game had been called, Pace handed the ball to Moss who scored as time expired giving Gurdon a 12-3 win over their long-time foes, and spoiling Prescott's homecoming festivities.

Unofficial statistics show the teams were about even in most categories.Gurdon was four of six in passing for 26 yards. Prescott hit four of 15 for 48 yards, with three being picked off.

Gurdon punted six times for 182, yards or a 30.3 yard average. Prescott had four punts for 147 yards, or a 36.75 yard average.

The Devils were penalized five times for 46 yards, while the host team had seven flags thrown against it for 55 yards.

Fumbles again plagued Gurdon as the Devils put the ball on the ground three times, losing all three. Prescott dropped the ball four times, but only lost one.

In first downs, Gurdon had the edge 7-6.

However, Gurdon's defense sacked the Prescott quarterback five times, while keeping Pace untouched.

Prescott ran more offensive plays than Gurdon, 40-35, but did less with them.

Gurdon managed 73 yards on the ground, while the defense was stingy and gave up but 34.

Overall, the Devils had 99 yards offensively, while Prescott managed but 82.

Lasiter led Gurdon's ground game with 11 rushes for 48 yards. Moss was next, running 14 times for 19 yards.

In games involving future Gurdon opponents, Fouke clipped Foreman 12-8; Murfreesboro dumped Fountain Lake 22-13; Mineral Springs humiliated Lewisville 48-8; Dierks escaped Decatur Saturday, 22-12; Cedarville dodged Stamps 19-13; and Horatio didn't play.

Gurdon will be home Friday night with a tough game on its hands, as the Devils play host to the Mineral Springs Hornets. Kickoff is set for 7:30 p.m. at Go-Devil Stadium.