Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

Gurdon Reigns In Battle Of 'Devils'

Gurdon is looking more and more like a playoff contender with each passing week.

Friday, Oct. 13, the Devils made the trip to Lewisville where they posted a 32-6 win to go to 5-2 overall and 3-1 in 7AA West conference action.

As it stands, Gurdon is tied for second with Murfreesboro and Foreman, with everybody chasing Mineral Springs.

Against Lewisville, though, the Devils won the opening toss and deferred until the second half. This gave the Red Devils the ball to open the game.

Gurdon Coach John Pace utilized an interesting form of kickoff, as the ball was placed on its side on the tee and squibbed downfield.

This caught Lewisville off guard, with Demarco Anderson falling on the ball at the 34.

Three plays later Lewisville punted away to Gurdon, with the Devils taking over on their own 48.

The opening play didn't go well for Gurdon as Colby Pace fumbled the ball, but fell on it at the 47.

From there, though, it didn't take the Devils long to put the first touchdown on the board.

O.B. Moss carried twice to the Lewisville 39, before Lee Marks broke through the Red Devil line like a Mack truck running through wet tissue paper for a touchdown.

The point after was wide left, but Gurdon led 6-0 with 8:09 left in the first.

Lewisville returned the favor on its next possession. Starting at the Red Devil 43, Lewisville marched downfield, using nine plays to tie the score at 6-6 with 3:10 showing.

Lewisville scored on a five-yard run by quarterback Recardo Wyrick.

From there, it was all Gurdon, as the Lewisville offense was held in check.

The Devils, though, pretty much had their way against Lewisville's defense.

It should be noted, however, the Lewisville team never gave up during the game. Unlike Red Devil teams of the past five years, this one didn't quit.

After the Red Devils scored, K.P. Meeks took the kickoff at the 13 and returned it to the Gurdon 40, nearly breaking it for six.

Cevin Lasiter carried twice to midfield, with an offside call against Lewisville giving Gurdon a first down.

Three plays later, Gurdon was at the Lewisville 25 and the first quarter was over.

Period two opened with Marks carrying twice to the 13. It took Gurdon four tries to cover this distance, with the score coming from a one yard run by Moss.

Again the PAT was no good as Pace missed connection with Joe Plyler on a two-point conversion, but Gurdon led 12-6.

Lewisville came in, three plays later went out having to punt the ball back to the Devils.

Gurdon began at its 33, with Moss carrying the load to the 42 before Gurdon began going backwards because of a holding penalty.

The Devils appeared to be overcoming the penalty until Pace was picked off by Chris Johnson at the Lewisville 31.

The turnover didn't help the Red Devils any, as they had to punt three snaps later. The punt sailed high into the night sky, spiraling with one point pointed down.

This allowed the ball to roll once it hit the turf, and roll it did, coming to rest at the Gurdon 18.

Moss broke for 23 yards on first down to give the Devils some breathing room at the 41. From there the drive stalled, with disaster staring Gurdon in the face as Pace handed to Jake Plyler, who let one fly on the halfback option pass. His throw was almost intercepted by Jeremy Sanders, who seemed surprised to see the ball coming his way.

Instead, though, the pass was dropped and Gurdon punted to the Lewisville 12 with 0:08 left.

The Red Devils then confused Gurdon by having the linemen line up on one side of the field, with the center, quarterback, backs and receivers on the other.

Pace had his team call a time out and discuss the situation.

When play resumed, Lewisville was in a more standard formation and took a knee to end the half.

Gurdon led 12-6 at the break.

And this was as close as Lewisville would get to the Devils again for the remainder of the contest.

Taking the opening kick at the 20, Marks fought to the 37.Eight plays later, Moss was in the Lewisville end zone for the third time of the night, scoring from the one, and Gurdon led 18-0.

This time, the two point conversion was successful and the Devils were up 20-0.

Lewisville, on its only possession of the third quarter, appeared as though the Red Devils would be marching for a score.

Aided by a pass interference call on third down, Lewisville made it to Gurdon's 48, before getting hit with a flag for having an illegal man downfield and had to punt again.

The Devils began their next drive from their own 26.

Moss carried three times to the Lewisville 45, before Marks had two runs to the Red Devil 39.

As time ran out, Moss was pulled down at the 13.

Period four began with Marks getting Gurdon a first down with a four-yard run. Moss scored his fourth touchdown from there.

The PAT was wide right, but Gurdon held a 26-6 lead.

Lewisville fought back moving from its 31 to its 44 before the Gurdon defense stiffened yet again.

On third down, the Red Devils again lined up with the linemen on one side of the field and backs on the other. This time, though, the play was ran, with Wyrick hitting Jason Ross for a two-yard gain.

This was too little, too late and Lewisville had to punt yet again.

Gurdon took over at its 35, and nine plays later Lasiter capped the 65-yard drive with a seven-yard run for the score. The PAT was no good, but the Devils held an insurmountable 32-6 lead with 3:39 showing.

Lewisville, starting at its own 31, ran three plays and punted to Moss at the Gurdon 45.

Moss lost the ball, with Lewisville recovering the fumble at the Devil 40. A flag for roughing the kicker was declined by the Red Devils.

Lewisville managed to get to the Gurdon 22 before hitting the wall one more time.

On fourth down, with 0:12 left in the game, the Red Devils tried the old fumblerooskie, unsuccessfully.

Wyrick took the snap, giving it to Johnson, who stuck the ball between the legs of Cedric Davis, who made it back to the line of scrimmage at the buzzer.

Gurdon dominated both sides of the ball all night long.

Unofficial statistics show Gurdon one for three for five yards in passing with one picked off, while Lewisville was three for six for 11 yards.

Gurdon punted once in the game for 38 yards. Lewisville punted five times for 144 yards, or a 28.8 yard per punt average.

Amazingly, the Devils were only flagged twice, but both were major penalties costing Gurdon 25 yards.

Lewisville was penalized seven times, mostly for jumping offsides because of a hard snap count, and lost 32 yards.

Gurdon fumbled twice, losing one, while Lewisville fumbled once, but maintained possession.

The Devils managed to sack the Lewisville quarterback once, with Pace untouched during the contest.

In first downs, Gurdon's offense racked up 23, while its defense surrendered six, mostly on Lewisville's only scoring drive.

Gurdon's ground game couldn't have been more productive as the Devils rushed the ball 46 times for 333 yards, or a 7.3 yard per carry average.

On the other side, Gurdon's defense allowed 85 yards rushing on 26 tries for a 3.3 ypc average.

Gurdon dominated in total yards 338-96.

The Devils also had more offensive plays than Lewisville, 49-32.

Moss carried the ball 17 times for 108 yards, but was outdone by Marks, who rushed for 128 yards on 13 carries.

Lasiter added 88 yards on 12 carries, while Meeks gained six yards on two runs.

Right now the standings show Mineral Springs, 6-0, 5-0, alone atop the 7AA West division.

Gurdon, Murfreesboro and Foreman are fighting for the number two spot with 3-1 records in the conference. Gurdon and Murfreesboro have 5-2 season records, while Foreman is at 4-3.

Then comes Horatio, 3-3, 2-2; followed by Lewisville, 3-4, 1-4; then Dierks, 2-5, 0-4; and Stamps, 0-7, 0-4.

In other games of interest to the Devils, Horatio gunned down Dierks 23-8; Mineral Springs whipped Foreman 21-6; and Murfreesboro had a practice game against Stamps, winning 32-0.

This week, Gurdon will be at home hosting the Foreman Gators, looking to get even for some lousy officiating on the road last season.

Kickoff will be at 7:30 p.m.