Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

Gurdon Rallies To Defeat Prescott, 12-3

Prescott's homecoming wasn't much to write home about as the Curley Wolves fell 12-6 to the Gurdon Go-Devils.

The game was marred by mistakes on both sides, with Prescott committing four turnovers, along with quarterback Josh Bullock getting sacked five times and harassed all night.

The Wolves also hurt themselves with penalties in key situations during the game.

Following the homecoming ceremonies, the Wolves won the toss, watched the opening kick go out of bounds and began play from the Prescott 35.

The Wing-T offense confused Gurdon early on, as the Wolves moved to the Devil 44 before getting hit with an illegal motion penalty.

The penalty slowed Prescott down, but the march resumed with the 25 before the Gurdon defense stiffened and took the ball over on towns at the Devil 31.

Gurdon ran three plays and punted as the Devil offense was unable to penetrate the Wolf defense.

The punt went to the Wolf 35, where Prescott again took over.

Three plays gained one yard, forcing Prescott to punt for the first time.

Josh Bullock's punt sailed to O.B. Moss at the Gurdon 25 and was returned to the Devil 45.

Cevin Lasiter put Gurdon in Prescott territory for the first time with a run to the Wolf 48. Gurdon made it to Prescott's 34 with the help of an interference call, and looked to be moving in for a score before Moss fumbled a the 24 with Prescott recovering.

Bryan Joseph was stopped for no gain on first down, before Bullock pitched to Mark Jones, who winged the ball back to Bullock for a 33 yard gain. Prescott battled to the Devil 34 as time expired in the opening period.

Bullock was stopped at the line to get the second quarter started, then handed to Jones on fourth and two. Jones gained just enough for a first down.

A bad snap forced Bullock to scramble for a yard. His pass for Joey Wyman was almost picked off by Gurdon's Colby Pace.

Bullock went back to the air, but found Jeremy Means at the Gurdon 4 to kill the drive.

Once again, the Devils were unable to mount a drive and had to punt. Prescott benefitted from a bad kick as it went off the side of Pace's foot.

The Wolves set up shop at the Gurdon 26 with 7:33 left in the half.

This was a golden opportunity for Prescott's offense to put one in the end zone, but the gods of football weren't smiling on the Wolves Friday night.

An option to Jones gained nine to the 19, with the Wolves getting to the 15 before the offense began going backwards.

Jones took a pitch and was nailed by Means at the 21. Going into the shotgun formation, the Wolves tried a reverse to Joseph, only to have it called back for clipping. This put Prescott at the Gurdon 42.

Bullock met Means in the backfield for the first of Gurdon's five sacks.

Facing third and eternity, Bullock fired downfield, and was almost picked off by Pace.

Lining up to punt, Bullock had the snap sail over his head, a wild scramble ensued with his pass being picked off by Gurdon's Dennis Brown at the Devil 32 and returned to the 45.

Gurdon declined an illegal man dowfield call against Prescott.

The Devils began what looked like a scoring drive, using the running game to move the ball from their 45 to Prescott's 35.

Pace tossed the ball to Moss on a sweep. Moss found a seam, sprinted outside and raced to the end zone for an apparent touchdown. However, a very late flag was thrown. In fact, the flag wasn't thrown until Moss was at the five-yard line.

Gurdon was called for illegal procedure and instead of having a touchdown, faced fourth and long.

Pace had the ball snapped over his head and was downed at midfield with 23 seconds left in the half.

Bullock was sacked on first down by Means again, then picked off by Lasiter at the Gurdon 11 with five seconds showing.

A knee ended the half with the score 0-0.

Gurdon got the ball to start the second half, with K.P. Meeks fielding the kick at the 15, returning it to the 26.The Devils moved the ball to the 40 before a screen cost them eight yards and forced a punt.

Brandon Young took the kick at the 34, fumbled it and fell on it.

The Wolves, aided by a facemask call against Gurdon, got as far as the Devil's 32 before being pushed backwards again.

Offsetting penalties nullified a screen from Bullock to Rafael Marlow, wiping out a 14-yard gain.

Prescott moved too soon on the next snap, losing five more yards and was forced to punt.

With the kick rolling to the Gurdon 13, Moss lost the handle on first down with Prescott falling on the loose ball at the 13.

It was Prescott's best chance of the night to punch one in and take the lead. However, Gurdon's defense stiffened, allowing seven yards in three plays.

The Wolves lined up for a 22-yard field goal attempt, with Marlowe splitting the uprights for the game's first points. With 3:28 left in the third, Prescott held a slender 3-0 lead.

Pace fielded the kickoff at the 10, returning it to the 23, where he was tackled by Young. The two scuffled with both benches emptying. No flags were thrown and neither player was ejected.

Prescott's defense tightened, forcing Gurdon back. In fact, the Devils lost seven yards on three plays and had to punt.

The kick hit at the Prescott 48, where Young touched it, making it a live ball. A scramble ensued with Prescott recovering the ball at its 37.

Joseph saw a 10-yard run wiped out because of a clipping call and the Wolves lost yardage back to the Prescott 28.

The next snap saw Bullock meet Chris Williams in the backfield for the third sack of the game.

On third and long, Bullock went to the air and seemed to be intercepted by Means. However, the pick was waived off by the officials, Prescott was flagged for having an illegal man downfield and the pass was considered to be incomplete, putting Prescott in a fourth-down situation.

The punt went to midfield, where the Devils ran four plays and fumbled back to Prescott at the Wolf 38.

However, the Prescott offense was unable to make any headway against Gurdon's defense and had to punt after three plays.

A hard rush resulted in a blocked punt with Gurdon falling on the ball at the Prescott 26 with 6:57 showing.

First down saw Moss lose to the 35. Pace followed this with a pass to Joe Plyler to the 19. The refs threw a flag, calling Prescott for interference, but Gurdon took the yardage instead.

Moss broke free on the next snap, going in for the game's first touchdown with 5:46 showing. The point after went wide left, and Prescott trailed 6-3.

Josh Brown took the kickoff, but had a knee down nullifying his runback. Prescott had to start at its 21.

Bullock was immediately sacked at the 18, missed connection with Marlowe on second down, and was sacked again on third down, this time at the eight.

Gurdon had no one deep for the punt, watching for a fake instead. The first kick was called back after the Devils were flagged for an illegal block. The penalty wasn't enough for a first down, and Prescott still had to kick the ball away.

The second attempt rolled dead at the Gurdon 36.

Gurdon went conservative on offense, running three plays and punting to the Prescott 28 with 2:39 showing.

This was Prescott's last gasp, but the Wolves were still unable to mount a drive.

Four downs later, it was Gurdon's ball on the Prescott 30.

Again the Devils played it safe, running three conservative plays and punting back to the Wolves at the four with 13 seconds left.A fumble on the snap saw Gurdon come up with the ball at the one with five ticks remaining.

Instead of taking a knee and running out the clock, Gurdon handed to Moss, who scored as time expired giving the Devils a 12-6 win.

Unofficial statistics show Prescott attempted 15 passes, completed four for 48 yards, with three being picked off.

Gurdon threw six times, caught four for 26 yards.

Gurdon punted the ball six times for 182 total yards, or a 30.3 yard average.

Prescott booted the ball four times for 147 yards, or a 36.75 yard average.

The Wolves saw flags fall against them seven times on the night for 55 yards in penalties.

Gurdon was flagged five times for 46 yards.

Prescott's offense managed six first downs, while the Wolf defense held Gurdon to seven.

The Wolves put the ball on the ground four times, losing one fumble. Gurdon fumbled three times, losing all three.

Prescott ran a total of 40 plays, while Gurdon had 35.

Neither team ran the ball well during the game. Prescott rushed the ball 35 times for 34 yards, while Gurdon ran the ball 29 times for 73 yards.

Prescott's offense managed a scant 82 yards in the game, while Gurdon could only scratch out 99.

Joseph carried the ball 11 times for 36 yards, with Jones toting the mail 13 times for seven. Overall, Bullock wound up in the hole seven yards, with the sacks, while Marlowe lost two yards on his only carry.

In games with future opponents for Prescott, Hope blasted Ashdown 39-0; Greenwood blanked De Queen 37-0; Fouke clipped Foreman 12-8; Murfreesboro dropped Fountain Lake 22-13; Ozark hammered Mena 56-20; Waldron got past Bismarck 26-8; and Warren dumped Nashville 27-14.

This Friday night the Wolves will be on the road again as they travel to Lion Country and face Bismarck. Kickoff is set for 7:30 p.m.