Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

Gurdon in playoffs with 27-6 win; Hampton next

BY JOHN MILLER

Road trip.

Gurdon, with a 3-7 overall record, and 2-5 conference mark, earned a trip to the playoffs Friday night by hammering Horatio 27-6, and will be on the road to face the Hampton Bulldogs, winners of the 7AA-East conference.

Though the final score showed the Devils winning handily, the game was up for grabs until midway through the third quarter.

The game got underway with Gurdon winning the toss. The kick rolled into the end zone for a touchback, putting the Devils on the 20, 80 yards from paydirt.

On the first play, Gurdon was hit with a holding penalty and moved back to the 15, as the infraction was marked from the spot of the foul.

The Devils fought to the 31 before Coach John Pace was warned by an official for crowding the sideline.

This and the opening penalty were harbingers of things to come, as the officials made themselves known the entire game, slowing the contest to a crawl at times and calling questionable penalties or calling nothing at all.

The end result, after Pace was warned, was Gurdon punting to the Lions. James Moseley's boot rolled dead at the Horatio 42.

The Lions were called for running into the kicker, a five-yard penalty, but this was declined by Gurdon as it wasn't enough to give the Devils a first down.

Horatio's offense began moving against the Gurdon defense, marching to the Devil 43 before Gurdon was hit with consecutive facemask penalties, moving the ball to the 26.

All this did, though, was hack the Devils up. Gurdon's defense stiffened and sacked Mike Pettigrew at the 29 on fourth down, giving Gurdon possession.

K.P. Meeks and Cevin Laster got the Devils moving, with Jake Plyler fighting to the 42 for a Gurdon first down.

Gurdon seemed to be marching toward a score, as Horatio was called for pass interference, putting the ball at the Lion 46 as period one came to an end.

Then things got weird.

One of the officials flagged Pace for allegedly cursing. The officiating crew met at midfield to discuss the situation, then decided to penalize Gurdon 15 yards for unsportsmanlike conduct.

This put the ball back where Gurdon started, at its 38. But, the officials also allowed the Devils to run an untimed play because of the interference call against Horatio.

The play saw Eddie Fort stopped for no gain and the two squads swap sides to get the second quarter started.

The second quarter got underway with Pace standing all the way back against the fence, yelling and waving his arms to the team to show where he was. It was also done to let the officials know what he thought of the unsportsmanlike call.

Two plays into the second period Gurdon punted, with the return to the 35. This was accompanied by a clipping call against the Lions, putting the ball on the 21.

However, it was also prelude to the first scoring drive of the night, as the Lions exploited small gaps in the Gurdon defense to move the ball toward the promised land.

Horatio had a 16-play drive, culminating with Pettigrew going in from the four with 2:52 left in the half.

The two-point conversion attempt was thwarted by a holding call against the Lions, followed by a short point after attempt.

Still, Horatio led 6-0. It was the only time the Lions would score in the game, though they did show the ability to move the ball downfield.

Fort took the kick at the 24, getting back to the 29.

The Devils ran two plays before Plyler was picked off, with the interception returned 16 yards to the 20.

The Lions made it to the 13 on first down, but were nailed with a delay of game call on the next play.