Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

Gurdon loses game of numbers against Rams

In a game of tug of war, the team with the most players on its side usually wins.

This theory would hold to be true about football also on Friday night as the 7AA Gurdon Go Devils, dressing out 25 players, fell to the AAAA Lakeside Rams, dressing out 88 players, by the score of 9-6.

The contest started with captains Kelvin McPeak and Eddie Fort of Gurdon and Chase Otwell, Thomas Jester, and Matt Woodard of Lakeside meeting at 50 yard line with Lakeside winning the toss and opting to receive the ball.

Fort kicked a 58-yard opening kickoff. Josh Bennett received the ball and returned 21 yards to the Ram 23.

The Devil defense would start the game lively, allowing the Rams only four plays before James Moseley intercepted the ball.

This would give Gurdon's offense to start at their own 16. It would take the Devils five plays for Jake Plyler to use a quarterback keeper and drive in for six points. The extra point attempt was no good and with 8:13 left in the first quarter the score was Gurdon-6 and Lakeside-0.

Eddie Fort kicked off again to the Rams, which received the ball at their own 21 and returned it to the 31.

From there, the Rams would drive all the way to the Devil 16 in nine plays, but end the surge with a missed field goal.

Gurdon then drove to its 38 yard line in four plays, but then Moseley punted a long 54-yarder with no return for the Rams.

Lakeside would then have a quick four down and out series ending with a punt by Matt Teale of the Rams caught by Cevin Laster of Gurdon and returned 17 yards.

After some confusion about which way and from where the ball would be going by the referees, the second quarter started with the Devils at the Lakeside 47 yard line.

Gurdon then had a successful offensive series, which included a fake punt on fourth down by Moseley, who gained 20 yards on the play.

The Devils drove all the way to the four yard line in 10 plays, but fumbled the ball, turning it over to Rams.

The Rams then drove the ball 91 yards in eight plays to the Devil six yard line.

From there, the rams kicked a field goal on fourth down. The kick was good and with 5:07 left in the first half the score was 6-3 Gurdon.

Ryan Aughenbaugh kicked off a 60-yard kick for Lakeside with Davion Williams receiving the ball in the end zone and returning it to the Go Devil 29.

Gurdon then drove 27 yards in seven plays, but then Moseley punted on fourth down to Aughenbaugh.

Lakeside would then have 39 seconds to try to score before halftime.

The Rams drove to the Devil 37, but the drive would end with a monster hit by Fort on Chip Bartlett.

The first half ended with a score of Gurdon-6, Lakeside-3.

The second half started with Aughenbaugh booting a kick to Williams, who returned the ball to the Devil 49.

The Devils could only gain four yards in four plays, then Moseley punted 40 yards to Aughenbaugh of Lakeside.

Then, the Rams went eight plays gaining 16 yards and ending the drive with Teale punting 30 yards to the Devils.

Gurdon's offense started on the 50, but only managed to drive nine yards in seven plays.

Then James Moseley punted 35 yards to pen the Rams within their own five yard line.

Lakeside ended the quarter with a four play drive, gaining only two yards.

On fourth down, Teale punted a 50-yarder with no return.

The fourth quarter got underway with the Devils having the ball on their own 45.

An unproductive offensive series ended with 35 yard punt by Moseley.

With 9:43 left in the game, Lakeside started a drive from its 17. Two plays into the drive, O.B. Moss of Gurdon went down with an ankle injury and then carried by ambulance to a local hospital.

Nine plays and 25 yards later, Teale punted for 26 yards to Williams with return.

Gurdon then had another four play and out series ending with a 40-yard punt by Moseley.

Lakeside had its own unproductive four down series concluding by a 25-yard punt by Teale.

The punt-fest would continue with Gurdon losing a total of three yards in four plays ending the series with 55-yard boot by Moseley.

With 1:42 left in the game, Lakeside had the ball at its 19 in what would seem to be the Rams's last chance to score.

Eight plays and 81 yards later, the Rams would seize the chance when Stephen Smith rushed in from the one yard line for the touchdown.

After an aggressive block of the extra point attempt by Fort, the score was Gurdon-6, Lakeside-9.

Aughenbaugh then kicked a rocket to the end zone, where it was received by Cevin Laster and carried to the Devil 20.

With 22 seconds left in the game, the Devils started their offense with a 21-yard pass complete to Moseley.

The clock ticked to just four seconds. The Go Devils only had one chance left to score.

Jake Plyler went to the line, receivers were in both sides of the field, Gurdon opted for the quarterback keeper gaining only 10 yards.

The game ended with the score of 9-6 Lakeside.

Lakeside had a total of 61 offensive plays for 237 yards of total offense. The Rams ran 15 pass plays for 106 yards and 47 run plays for 131 yards. Lakeside ended with one touchdown, one field goal, one interception, and three fumbles.

Gurdon ran 54 offensive plays for 143 yards of total offense. The Devils ran 49 times for 107 yards and passed five times for 36 yards.

Gurdon finished with one touchdown, no interceptions, and two fumbles.

Individual offensive yards were as follows: K.P. Meeks rushed 33 yards in nine attempts, O. B. Moss rushed 22 yards in eight attempts, Moseley rushed 21 yards in one attempt, Plyler rushed 20 yards in four attempts, Walter Hart rushed 15 yards in two carries, McPeak rushed 14 yards in one attempt, Laster rushed 12 yards in seven carries, and Fort rushed eight yards in four carries.

Defensive tackles were lead by John Watson with nine, Moseley with seven, Meeks and Fort with six, Josh Uchtman and McPeak with five, Plyler with four, Moss with three, Laster with two, and J.J. Plyer, Tirrell Hatley, Williams, and Chris Williams all with one.

The Devils will host the Prescott Curley Wolves this Friday night at Go Devil Stadium. Kickoff will be at 7:30. Every one is encouraged to come support the Go Devils in the football season's home opener.

In addition, this will be the seventh year the two teams will be vying for the Picayune-Times Traveling Trophy.

To date, both squads have won the trophy three times, with Gurdon winning the last two years in a row. The Devils will be looking to pull off the hat trick Friday night.