Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

Go-Devils Tame Lions; Take On Dragons In Play-Offs

Horatio wondered who let the Devils out Friday night as Gurdon posted a 34-3 win over the Lions.

However, in spite of the convincing win, and a Foreman victory over Murfreesboro, Gurdon finished the regular season third in the 7AA-West conference and must travel to Junction City Friday, Nov. 10, to open the first round of playoff action.

The Gators clipped the Rattlers 11-8. Had Foreman managed to score two more points, Gurdon would have finished second in the league and been at home against Hampton.

Three teams finished tied for second, forcing a tiebreaker. The teams who had scored the most points, Gurdon and Murfreesboro were considered, with the Rattlers getting the nod because of their win over the Devils in the regular season.

None of this helped Horatio, as the Lions had no chance at post-season play. However, they could have been the spoilers, only this didn't work out for them either.

As this was the final home game of the year, the senior members of the Gurdon team were honored in a pre-game ceremony. Also recognized in the celebration were the senior members of the band and cheerleaders.

When the game began, it got off to an inauspicious start as the opening kick went out of bounds at the Lion 46.

Horatio took the ball at the spot, instead of having Gurdon kick it again, and promptly drove to the Devils' 12 where the defense stiffened.

The Lions ran 14 plays and kept the ball 5:39 before facing a fourth and 10 at Gurdon's 12. Horatio brought in Fernando Ochoa, who calmly booted a 29-yard field goal to give his team a 3-0 lead.

K.P. Meeks took the ensuing kick at the one, returning it to the 18.

Before the first snap was made, flags flew and Horatio was nailed for being offside. This moved the ball to the 23 and gave Gurdon some breathing room.

O.C. Webster carried twice to the 20, before Cevin Lasiter broke for six more.

Colby Pace winged one to Jeremy Means for eight more as the Devils were marching through the Lion defense with little trouble.

Gurdon moved to the Horatio 41 before fumbling the ball on consecutive plays, but recovering both bobbles.

The march continued, primarily on Webster's legs with the first quarter coming to an end with Pace hitting Joe Plyler at the 21.

Period two opened with Lasiter sweeping to the 15, followed by a counter by Jake Plyler to the nine. From there Lasiter finished the drive, putting Gurdon in the lead for once and all.

The point after split the uprights and Gurdon was up 7-3. This was as close as Horatio would be for the rest of the night.

Jeff Hankins took the kick at the 15, bringing it to the 24 for the Lions.

Horatio ran six plays, moving to the 46 before having to punt. The ball rolled dead at the Gurdon 22 with 7:51 showing.

It looked as if it would be a runaway as Webster took the handoff, broke through the line and rambled to the Lion 14 before running out of gas and being caught from behind.

The Devils made it to the Lion three before the drive stalled and the ball went over on downs.

This fired Horatio up for the final time in the game. The Lions, starting at their 14, as Gurdon had lost yardage on a holding call, moved downfield, feeding the Devils a steady diet of Hankins.

Hankins carried four straight times to the Lion 34, got a break when Mike Pettigrew gained seven, then resumed his workload, moving to the 45.

In all, the Lions ran 15 offensive plays, and drove to Gurdon's 11 before again calling on Ochoa's services to attempt a 27-yard field goal on third down with 9.8 seconds left.

The kick was straight enough, and plenty high, but Ochoa got under it and the attempt fell short.

The Devils simply lined up and let the remaining 4.9 seconds tick off and hit the lockers at the half.

The contest had began with a heavy mist falling. The mist continued throughout the game, keeping the crowd size down.

The crowd was all it kept down, as the Devils lit it up in the second half.

Lee Marks fielded the opening kick at the 17 and took it to the 38 before being brought down.From there the Devils ran eight plays with the touchdown coming on a 30-yard pass from Pace to Means, who made a solid over-the-shoulder catch behind a defender.

The PAT was blocked, but Gurdon led 13-3 with 7:45 showing in the third.

Pettigrew took the kick at the 15 and was swarmed at the 22.

Four plays later, Gurdon got the ball back on a punt as the Lion offense was stifled by the Devil "D".

The Devils had no receivers back, expecting a fake. This allowed the ball to roll to the Gurdon 33.

Gurdon ran six plays, was hit twice on procedure penalties, managed to get to the Devil 43 and had to punt, with the ball rolling dead at the Lion 25.

This was Gurdon's only punt of the game.

The Lions ran two plays and the third quarter ended.

At the start of the final 12 minutes, the Lions managed to move to the Gurdon 49, where the ball was turned over on downs.

Webster ran the ball twice, getting to the Lion 43, before Meeks took over the ground attack.

Meeks carried five times and scored on a nine-yard run with 5:51 left in the contest.

The two point conversion made it 21-3.

Horatio began on its 36, only to fumble the ball and have it recovered by Means with 5:39 showing.

Meeks carried to the 32, with Lasiter moving it to the 25. Then disaster was averted when, on a busted play, Pace was able to break outside and ramble in for the touchdown. The PAT put Gurdon up 28-3 with 3:22 left in the game.

Starting at its 38, Horatio ran four plays, with four passes falling incomplete, thereby giving Gurdon the ball back on downs with 2:59 showing.

Gurdon did line up and attempt to run the clock out as there was no doubt as to the outcome of the game.

However, with Jake Plyler under center, Lasiter gained three on first down. The handoff to Lasiter on second down resulted in a six more as he broke free and sprinted into the end zone for six more.

The PAT was blocked, but it didn't matter as Gurdon held an insurmountable 34-3 lead with 2:00 left.

Chris Lemons took the kickoff at the Lion 30, returned it to the 40, then fumbled it to the Devils.

Gurdon ran three plays, adding seven more yards to its total as the game came to an end.

Statistically, the Devils were the dominant team.

Pace was nearly perfect in the air, hitting six of eight passes for 69 yards.

The Lions connected on five of 12 attempts for 52 yards.

Horatio punted twice for 61 yards, while Gurdon punted once for 32.

The Devils were flagged four times in the game for 25 yards in loss, while Horatio was hit with six penalties for 30 yards.

Neither quarterback was sacked in the game, though both had to scramble at times because of pressure.

The Devils racked up 21 first downs, while the defense allowed but 10.

Gurdon fumbled three times, but recovered all three. Horatio put the ball on the ground twice, losing both.

The Devils had 55 snaps, while Horatio ran 46 offensive plays.

Gurdon's ground game racked up 277 yards, while the defense held the Lions to 141.

Overall, the Devils had 346 yards in offense, while the Lions managed 193.

Webster was the leading rusher for Gurdon, carrying the ball 23 times for 149 yards.

Lasiter was next with 10 runs for 49 yards. This was followed by Meeks, who carried seven times for 43 yards.

Pace ran four times for 23 yards, with Jake Plyler carrying twice for 12. Marks ran once for a yard.

Gurdon's 47 rushing attempts for 277 yards, showed an average of 5.9 yards per carry.

The Lions ran the ball 34 times for 141 yards, or a 4.1 yard per carry average.

In other 7AA West action, Dierks whipped Stamps 30-12; and Foreman edged Murfreesboro 11-8. Lewisville stepped out of league play to skunk Marvell 33-0.

In the 7AA East, where two teams from the west will go Friday night, Hampton manhandled El Dorado West Side 40-6. Bearden beat Hermitage 26-12; Junction City destroyed Norphlet 69-14; Rison demolished Strong 47-0; and Smackover needed overtime to edge Camden Harmony Grove 12-6.

Round one of the playoffs shapes up as follows: Gurdon travels to Junction City and Foreman hits the road to Rison.

The 7AA West home teams will be Mineral Springs, with the Hornets hosting Smackover, and Murfreesboro, with the Rattlers taking on Hampton.

The way the brackets are set, Gurdon will be on the road as long as the Devils remain in the playoffs.

Kickoff for the Gurdon-Junction City game is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. Friday, Nov. 10.