Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

Wolves hand Devils victory part II

The statistics show Gurdon's punting to be phenomenal, but this wasn't the case. Plyler's punts tended to be short, but roll a long way after hitting the turf, as happened in the aforementioned instant.

Once again, though, the Wolves proved to be their own worst enemy by getting called for holding on the first play after the punt.

This nullified a run giving the offense room to work, and put the team back at the six.

Three plays later, Prescott punted from the nine, with the ball being killed at the Wolf 33.

Still, though, Gurdon was unable to move against the Wolf "D", gaining five yards in four plays, and turning it over on downs.

As was the case all night long, a penalty stopped Prescott before the Wolves could get going, this time a clip call moved the squad to the 18, and forced the team to pass.

Period three ended with two incompletions and Prescott ready to punt.

The Devils took over at the Gurdon 41 to start the final 12 minutes, did absolutely nothing in three plays and punted back to Prescott.

The ball rolled dead at the four, with Vanhook fumbling on first down.

Gurdon recovered at the one, and scored two plays later as Meeks went in.

The two-point conversion made it 24-13 with 9:16 left in the game.

Prescott's players were confident on the sideline, still believing they could pull out a victory.

Gurdon kicked a line drive, hitting Roger Muldrow in the chest with the ball, with the bounce winding up in Williams's hands at the 32. He returned the kick to the 44.

The Wolves drove to the Gurdon 9, overcoming two fumbles (both recovered by Prescott players), but unable to get by an illegal motion penalty on third down. The team turned the ball over on downs at the Devil 17 with 6:46 to go.

It was one, two, three, kick for Gurdon, with Norwood fielding the kick at the Wolf 40, getting back to midfield, only to see a clipping call move the ball back to the Prescott 32.

A.J. Lewis took a handoff on a reverse, pulled up and fired downfield to Joe Stueart, who rambled to the Gurdon 18 before being brought down.

The Wolves lost two yards on the next four plays and gave the ball back to Gurdon at its 20 with 3:23 left in the outing.

Again, the Devils went nowhere on offense, while the Wolves hurt their cause with an offside call after Plyler had been sacked inside the five.

Instead of being pinned deep, Plyler punted from the Gurdon 25, with the ball rolling dead at the Wolf 34 with two minutes remaining.

This was Prescott's final shot, as the Wolves went to the air, moving to Gurdon's 21.

However, as had been the case throughout the game, a mistake prevented the Wolves from being able to have an opportunity to score.

With 1.4 seconds left, Prescott was in a fourth down situation. Lewis was in under center and spiked the ball to kill the clock, not realizing what down it was.

Plyler took a knee to end the game.

Unofficial statistics show Prescott five of 13 for 95 yards in passing, while Gurdon connected on one of five passes for seven yards.

Prescott punted three times, none were returned.

Gurdon booted the ball six times for 287 yards, mostly because of the roll after contact. Prescott managed 22 return yards, giving the Devils a net of 265.

Prescott was flagged eight times for 65 yards, while the Devils were penalized four times for 30 yards.

Both teams posted 14 first downs in the contest.

The Wolves lost three of five fumbles, while the Devils, completely out of character, had no turnovers.

Prescott ran the ball 30 times for 206 yards, while Gurdon had 52 rushes for 200 yards.

Overall, the Wolves ran 44 offensive plays, with the Devils snapping the ball 57 times.

Vanhook carried 18 times for 170 yards, with Norwood rushing once for a yard.

Damaricus Craven carried three times for no gain, with Woodley rushing twice for 13 yards.

Martin carried four times for seven yards, while Lewis ran once for 15 yards.

Prescott will be on the road Friday night as the Wolves travel to Hampton to take on the Bulldogs. Kickoff is scheduled for 7:30 p.m.