Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

Devils take bite out of Rattlers, 35-0

The Go-Devils maintained an undefeated record with a 35-0 victory over the Murfreesboro Rattlers Friday night in Go-Devil Stadium.

Gurdon (5-0, 3-0) racked up 369 yards total offense, all of it via the rush.

Murfreesboro brought a different attack, throwing the football 17 times for more than 100 yards in the first half alone. Gurdon withstood the air raid while posting another shutout.

Gurdon kicked to the Rattlers to start the game. Murfreesboro moved the chains for three first downs on their opening drive by mixing the pass with the run.

Senior quarterback Adrian Wesson connected with wide receiver Tavarous Moore three times on the first series, including a 26 yard pass that pushed the ball inside the Gurdon 35.

A holding penalty followed by a fumble and recovery by the Rattlers resulted in a nine-yard loss and forced Murfreesboro to punt.

The Murfreesboro punt rolled to the Gurdon 11, and Gurdon took over with a little over seven minutes remaining in the first quarter.

It took Gurdon less than a minute to score, rushing four times for 84 yards. K.P. Meeks carried eight yards on his first attempt. Tailback Cevin Laster followed with a 30 yard rush, which was followed by an Uthel Gatlin run of 23 yards.

Laster took the next handoff 17 yards for a Devil touchdown. The extra point attempt by Barry Nolan was no good and Gurdon led 6-0 with 6:14 left in the first quarter.

Dorsey Kelley's kick off sailed into the end zone for a touchback, and Murfreesboro started at its own 20.

Wesson started the drive with a wide receiver screen to Cole Nolen. Nolen ran behind his blockers for a gain of 13 and a Rattler first down.

Senior running back Jeremy Smith jolted through the Devil defense for 43 yards on the next play. With a first and 10 at the Gurdon 34, the Rattlers attempted two running plays into the heart of the Go-Devil defense, gaining only three yards. On third and seven, Wesson went for the home run, but his pass was deflected in the end zone by Laster.

Murfreesboro called a wide receiver screen on fourth and seven but fell three yards shy of the first down. Gurdon's offense marched back onto the field with 3:46 remaining in the first quarter.

The Rattlers got a heavy dose of Meeks and Laster on the Devil's second drive. Laster and Meeks combined for 10 of the 12 rushes for a total of 61 yards. Kelley added a rush for 15 yards during the drive.

However, it was Meeks head coach John Pace called on at the goal line. On second and goal only inches away from the end zone, Meeks took the handoff and dove into the end zone to extend the Gurdon lead to 12-0.

Devil quarterback, Jake Plyler, ran a quarterback keeper for a successful two point conversion, and with 9:26 remaining in the first half Gurdon led 14-0.

Penalties destroyed the ensuing drive for the Rattlers. Murfreesboro returned the kickoff near midfield, but a holding penalty marked the ball back to their 16.

Undaunted, the Rattlers began to the move the ball against the Gurdon defense. After runs of nine and 10 yards, Wesson dropped back and completed a 19-yard strike to Ben Lowery.

A personal foul facemasking penalty turned the field position game around in favor of the Rattlers.

With first and ten from the Gurdon 31, Murfreesboro fired two incomplete passes at the Gurdon defense, one of which was a sure touchdown Kurt Caldwell dropped in the end zone. A holding penalty forced the Rattlers into a third and 29.

Murfreesboro's punt was fielded by Marcel Johnson at the Gurdon 13 and returned to the 33. Johnson did the majority of the work on the drive that followed with four carries, one of which was a 36-yard run that put the Go-Devils in Rattler territory.

On a third goal from inside the one, Plyler took the snap, ran a bootleg to the left, and found a patch of daylight to reach the end zone. The two point conversion attempt that followed was no good and Gurdon led 20-0.

Gurdon would take that lead into halftime.

The Go-Devil defense proved to be too much for the Rattlers in the second half. Murfreesboro never put together a solid drive in the final two quarters.

After completing eight passes for 115 yards in the first half, Wesson and the Rattlers completed none of the six attempts in the second half.

Wesson was intercepted by Gatlin on a ball Gatlin tipped in the air. The Rattlers were knocking at the door of scoring points at the time.

Gurdon added two more scores in the second half.

Meeks scored his second touchdown of the night with a four-yard run in the third quarter, and Plyler scored his second of the night with a seven-yard touchdown scramble in the fourth.

With 5:19 remaining in the game, Gurdon led 35-0 and the 35 point rule went into effect for the third consecutive week.

Gurdon has given up a total of six points in its last four contests, and has posted three shutouts in the last four weeks.

"Defensively, we didn't play perfect but we still put a goose egg," said Pace. "That's the sign of a good defense."

Offensively, the Devils ran at will against Murfreesboro, rushing for 227 yards in the first half alone.

"In the first half offensively, they couldn't stop us," said Pace.

With the toughest conference games and the playoffs looming ahead, both the offense and defense are playing extremely good football.

"It tells us we can win every time we suit up," Pace told his football team.

Gurdon did not attempt a pass in the first half. Part of the reason was there was no need. The Devils were averaging more than nine yards a carry when running the football. The other part of the equation was the absence of Plyler's go to receiver, Davion Williams. Williams tweaked a hamstring in practice this week, but should be back for next week's game.

"Not having Davion affected (the game plan) a little bit, but we ran for 43 yards on the first two playsWe didn't need to throw," said Pace.

The Gurdon running backs split duties all game long. Gurdon could have kept running until dawn by splitting the time between its five running backs.

Pace is happy to have the real diamond mine in Gurdon when it comes to running backs.

"When you have four or five (good running backs) and one gets tired, it helps. We have some guys who really want to run the football."

The Devil's have feasted on its stable of running backs throughout the season. The running game and stout defense has put them in a strong position in the 7AA West.

Only Gurdon and Mineral Springs remain undefeated, although Dierks is still unbeaten in conference play.

The next three weeks begin a series of true tests for the Go-Devils. Gurdon travels to Horatio next week for a conference road game.

Gurdon then hosts the two other teams atop of the conference standings in back to back home gains. Gurdon will host Mineral Springs on Oct. 18 and Dierks on Oct. 25.