Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

Devils fall 7-0 in waterlogged season opener

Friday night, the Gurdon Go Devils traveled to Fouke, but came home disappointed as the Panthers managed a 7-0 win.

The major factor in the game could been seen all the way from Gurdon: rain, rain, and more rain.

The Devils won the opening toss and deferred to Fouke. Eddie Fort booted the ball to Jerry Littleton.

Fouke's first drive ended in a fumble with a whole host of Devils recovering the ball.

This set up a 10 play drive, gaining 29 yards, but ending with a Devil fumble, recovered by the Panthers.

But fortunately, the Panthers had another case of fumbleitis and turned the ball back over to John Watson of the Devils.

The Go Devils ended the first quarter with a four play drive gaining 11 yards.

The second quarter would prove to be harder for the Devils on both sides of the ball. The first drive had four downs and gained a net total of negative six yards for the Devils.

But Fouke kept its trend and fumbled the ball on the first play of their drive with the ball being recovered by Derrick Puckett of the Devils.

Gurdon would catch the fumble bug on the next drive, giving the ball back to Fouke.

The Panthers used this gift wisely, setting up a 65-yard, four play drive in which Brandon Attaway used a quarterback keeper to gain 63 yards and scored.

The extra point attempt by Ataway was good and with 7:01 left in the first half Gurdon was down by seven.

After a 15-yard penalty was accessed against Gurdon for roughing the kicker on the extra point attempt, Gurdon received the kick from Fouke at the 31 yard line.

Another penalty, offsides, of five yards was accessed to Gurdon, during the kickoff, so Fouke kicked off again from the Devil 40 yard line.

Marcel Johnson of Gurdon received the ball at the one and returned to the 13. This set up a four down drive which gained four yards, ending with a 31 yard punt by James Mosley.

Fouke then put together a nine-play drive ending with a dropped pass from Attaway to Brandon Larey in the end zone just seconds before halftime.

Gurdon then received the ball one last time and with a kneel ended the first half trailing 7-0.

The second half began with Mosley returning the kick 13 yards to Gurdon's 34.

The Devils had a five play drive, gaining 40-yards and making three first downs, but the fumble virus struck again when K. P. Meeks lost grip of the ball to Joseph Sloan.

Fouke would then have an unproductive offensive series ending with a 30-yard punt received by Mosley.

After a personal foul penalty was accessed against Gurdon, the Devils drive started and ended on the 42 with another fumble plaguing their offense.

The Panthers then ended a seven-play drive with an interception being snagged by Watson.

With quarterback Jake Plyler being temporarily out to the game, Walter Hart lead Gurdon on a five play, 28-yard drive ending with Mosley bootting a long 47-yard punt to Fouke.

The Panthers then had an ineffective offensive series, punting the ball back to the Devils after just four downs.

Gurdon started its offense on the Devil's 35, gaining 19 yards on two plays before the end of the third quarter.

Gurdon would add six more plays to the drive that ended the third quarter, but would end the drive by a 36-yard punt by Mosley.

Fouke would then begin to work the clock using a nine-play drive gaining 25 yards offensively.

After a punt by the Panthers, Gurdon started their offense on their own 19.

In what seemed to be their last chance to score of the game, a very controversial interception of the ball was made by Attaway after a lot of bumping of a Devil receiver by three Panthers.

Fouke would then have one last time consuming drive, turning the ball over to Gurdon after a fake punt attempt at the Devil 32.

With 13 seconds left in the game, Gurdon had two shots at the end zone, both ending as incomplete passes.

The game ended with a final score of Gurdon  0 Fouke  7.

Individual statistics for Gurdon are as follows. Gurdon ran a total of 48 offensive plays with three passes for no yards, and 45 rushing attempts for 88 yards.

The Devils had four fumbles and two interceptions.

Individually, Johnson gained 15 yards in nine attempts, Cevin Laster ran the ball six times for 12 yards; Meeks rushed 39 yards in 12 attempts; Plyer rushed 26 yards in six attempts; and Walter Hart rushed 22 yards in three attempts.

Defensive tackles for Gurdon was lead by Watson with eight, Josh Uchtman followed with seven, Mosley had four, Meeks added three, Josh Frisby, Jake Plyer, Derrick Puckett, and J J Plyer all had two each, and Hart, Laster, Johnson, and Eric McQuistion all having one tackle.

Fouke had 44 offensive plays with two passes for 13 yards, and 42 rushes for 94 yards. The Panthers had one touchdown, five fumbles and one interception.

The key player in Fouke's winning effort was Attaway, their kicker, quarterback, and a key defensive player. Attaway had 51 yards rushing, one touchdown, and five tackles.

This Friday, the Gurdon Go Devils will travel to Hot Springs Lakeside in another non-conference game.

Kickoff will be a 7:30 pm.