Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

Gurdon Win Guarantees Playoff Spot For Go-Devils

It would take an act of Supreme will for Gurdon's Go-Devils to miss the playoffs this year.

In fact the team would literally have to not bother showing up for its next two games, and even then the probability is the Devils would finish fourth in the conference.

However, this is nothing more than idle speculation as Gurdon has plans on finishing second in the 7AA West conference, and made a solid move toward this goal by whipping Foreman, 28-7, Friday night at Go-Devil Stadium.

Of course the Devils had incentive on their side as they were treated poorly in Foreman in 1999, losing the game 29-22.

Gurdon, though, feasted on the sweet taste of revenge by holding Foreman's all everything quarterback, Cedric Cursh, in check most of the night.

Cursh, though, will be playing Division 1 football with the Arkansas Razorbacks next year, having already signed a letter of intent. He was heavily recruited by such collegiate powerhouses as Nebraska and Ohio State.

Gurdon's defense took no notice of his press clippings, preferring to form their own opinions.

For the third straight week the Devils won the toss, but deferred until the second half.

This gave Foreman the ball first, with the kick being squibbed to Whit Kent at the Gator 47.

Foreman's first play from scrimmage went awry and Cursh was sacked at the 44. Two plays later the Gators had moved to Gurdon's 49, but had to punt.

Cevin Lasiter bobbled the kick, but fell on it at the Gurdon 22 with 9:48 left in the quarter.

From there, Gurdon's offense was stingy, driving down field in a methodical manner, eating time off the clock while chewing turf.

In fact, the Devils held the ball for 9:26, running 19 plays before turning it over on downs to the Gators at the Foreman seven.

Gurdon was its own worst enemy in the drive fumbling twice on bad snaps, but managing to recover both.

Foreman's defense had fits on third and short situations as Gators consistently jumped offsides on hard counts by Colby Pace.

Still, the Devils drove the length of the field, mostly on the ground, but Pace did hit Jeremy Means for a nine-yard gain, and also connected with Jason Simpson for 10 more.

Gurdon earned a first and goal at the 12, and looked to be on the verge of scoring the game's first points.

Lasiter gained three on first down, with O.B. Moss adding four more on second.

Third down saw Moss get the ball again and get hit behind the line of scrimmage. However, he continued to struggle and, as he broke free, the officials blew the play dead. This cost Gurdon two yards.

Pace missed connection with Jake Plyler on fourth down, giving the ball back to Foreman.

The Gators ran one play, with Jeffrey Baugh gaining a yard, as the first quarter ended.

Period two opened with Michael Avila going nowhere against the Devil defense.

But, on third and nine, Cursh dropped as if to pass, a lane opened and he sprinted through to the Gurdon 40 before being brought down.

This didn't set well with Gurdon's defense and Foreman only gained six yards on its next three plays.

Fourth down saw an option play blow up in Foreman's face with Gurdon recovering the fumble at the Devil 35.

From there, though, Gurdon ran four plays and punted with Foreman taking over on the Gator 30.

Baugh lost two on first down, but made up for this by taking an option pitch 62-yards for Foreman's only touchdown on the next play. The point after made it 7-0 Foreman with 4:28 left in the half.

The Devils were unable got mount an attack and punted after three plays, with the Gators starting at their own 38.

First down saw Foreman put the ball on the ground, but recover it. Baugh gained four on second down, being tackled by a shoestring by Means.

A sweep on third saw Baugh break through and make it to Gurdon's 21 before O.C. Webster hit him with a punishing tackle.Foreman made it to the 17 before its drive stalled and halftime arrived.

K.P. Meeks fielded the second half kick at the 30, taking it on the first bounce. As he cradled the ball, he was hammered by the Foreman defense.

Moss and Meeks carried the brunt of the load on the ensuing drive, as Gurdon marched to the Gator 25.

An illegal procedure call on third down put the Devils in a third and 10 situation. Pace winged a pass to Jake Plyler, who was hit early, but didn't draw a flag.

On the next play, Pace was unable to connect with Moss and Foreman took over on downs.

The Gators then ran three of the six offensive plays they had in the quarter on this series, going nowhere and punting back to Gurdon.

Starting at the Devil 41, Gurdon used six plays to wrap up the 59-yard drive and make the score 7-6.

The Devils had moved to Foreman's 24 in five plays before Jake Plyler took the handoff on a reverse and went into the end zone untouched with 2:53 showing.

The two-point conversion attempt was unsuccessful, but the Devils had cut the lead to one.

Baugh took the kick at the 22, returning it to the 32, only to see it brought back on a clipping call against the Gators. This put Foreman at its 17.

Gurdon's defense was more than up to the challenge as the Gators only made it to the 21 before Cursh was forced to throw the ball away on third down. Had the officials chose, they could have called intentional grounding on the play as the only white jerseys near the ball were players on the Foreman sideline.

The punt made it to Gurdon's 49 with 1:11 left in the third.

The Devils ran three plays, getting to Foreman's 36 as the period ended.

The final 12 minutes belonged entirely to Gurdon, as the Devils scored on three straight possessions, while shutting Foreman down.

Lee Marks carried twice to open the fourth quarter and took a breather while Moss broke from the 24 to the 3. Marks then bulled in to give Gurdon a 12-7 lead with 10:09 showing.

This time the two-point conversion was good and Gurdon was up 14-7.

Foreman started its, soon-to-be-doomed drive at the Gator 37. Cursh was picked off by Moss on first down at the Gator 40, with the ball returned to the 26.

Gurdon's plight was aided as the Gators were hit with a personal foul, moving the ball 15 yards closer to the 11.

Moss carried twice to the two, before Meeks got the final yards in two tries with 8:02 to go.

Now the Devils had a cushion leading 20-7, and added a larger margin with the PAT splitting the uprights to make it 21-7.

Whether or not Foreman realized it, the game was already over, with the exception of the final score.

Mike Woods fielded the kickoff and quickly wished he hadn't as he was gang tackled at the Foreman 35.

Two plays netted seven yards before Foreman used a little razzle-dazzle.

Cursh faked a handoff to Avila, tossing it instead to Wayne Shoals, who made it to the Gurdon 49, where he fumbled, but fell on the ball.

The Devils pinned their ears back after this play and made Gator ball carriers pay with bruises. Foreman's drive ended with Cursh fumbling on an option, with the ball recovered by Joe Plyler at the Devil 48.

With the clock showing 5:18 the Devils offense took the field. Lasiter gained three on first down, with Meeks stopped on second.

Meeks made up for this with a 13 yard run on third down putting the ball at the Gator 36.

Moss added 16 more, moving Gurdon to the 20. From there it was Marks to the 15, Moss to the 5, Marks to the three, then Moss in for six with 0:17 left in the game.

The PAT put the finishing touches on the evening making it 28-7.

The squib kick was fielded by Woods at the 37. Foreman ran one play, making it to the Gurdon 45, before Cursh appeared to forget about the time and let the clock run out.

As the buzzer sounded ending the contest, Gurdon players on the sidelines drenched Coach John Pace with a container of water.

Gurdon was the dominant team statistically. The Devils were two of six in passing for 19 yards, while Foreman was one of seven for four yards and one pick.

Gurdon punted twice for 37 yards, while Foreman punted three times for 91.The Devils cut down their penalties, getting hit twice for 10 yards. Foreman, on the other hand, was flagged seven times for 65 yards in losses.

Cursh was sacked once in the game, while Pace was untouched.

The Devil offense raked up 23 first downs as Gurdon owned the clock. Foreman managed four first downs.

Both teams put the ball on the ground four times. However, Gurdon recovered all of its fumbles, while Foreman lost two.

The Devils ran a total of 57 offensive plays, while Foreman snapped the ball 31 times. Of this, 16 snaps came in the first half.

Gurdon's ground game was once again solid as the Devils ran for 247 yards. Foreman's stats looked good with 212 yards on the ground, but most of this came on two plays.

Overall, Gurdon gained 266 yards offensively, while giving up 214.

Gurdon ran the ball 51 times for 247 yards, or an average of 4.8 yards per carry.

Foreman gained 212 yards on 24 carries, for an 8.8 ypc average.

Moss shouldered the load for the Devils, running the ball 14 times for 95 yards.

Next up was Meeks with nine carries for 51 yards.

Lasiter carried 12 times for 41 yards, while Marks ran 11 times for 31 yards.

Jake Plyler carried three times for 29 yards.

The Devils are currently all alone in second place behind Mineral Springs in the 7AA West.

The Hornets remain unblemished at 7-0, 6-0. Gurdon is now 6-2, 4-1.

Three teams are technically still in the hunt for the last two playoff berths. Murfreesboro has the inside track at 5-2, 3-1, with Foreman at 4-4, 3-2. Then comes Horatio at 3-3, 2-2.

From there, Lewisville is 4-4, with its best season in years, and 2-4; followed by Dierks, 2-6, 0-5; and Stamps, 0-8, 0-5.

If all things hold true, Gurdon should finish second in the conference. For the playoffs, the Devils would be home against the number three team in the 7AA East. At this time, Rison holds this spot.

In other conference action Friday, Lewisville put a whooping on Stamps, 38-0; Mineral Springs did no favors for Dierks with a 42-6 win; and Murfreesboro played Horatio Saturday.

This week, Dierks goes to Lewisville; Horatio is at Foreman; and Stamps will be the sacrificial lamb against Mineral Springs.

Gurdon will be on the road for the final time in the regular season as the Devils head to Murfreesboro. Kickoff is set for 7:30 p.m.