Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

Devils route Murfreesboro, 33-7

At the end of last week's win over Mountain Pine coach John Pace told his team to build on the win.

Friday night the Go-Devils traveled to Murfreesboro and followed instructions by improving their conference record to 2-0 in Rattler country with a 33-7 victory.

Gurdon won the coin toss and decided to kick. Murfreesboro returned to its 35-yard line and began with a six-yard run by Cornelius Dixon. An offsides call took them back five. A pass by Jase Johnson to Ben Lowery got Murfreesboro moving again down to the Devil's 40. Dixon added an 11-yard run and it looked like the Rattlers were poised to strike. Gurdon stepped up on defense and put an end to the drive. After losing yardage on the next three plays, Murfreesboro was forced to punt.

The punt was partially blocked by Gurdon, but it made its way down to the Gurdon five.

Jamelle Lacy lost two yards on his first run. He gave the Go-Devils some breathing room with a five-yard carry, but decided he did not like being so close to his own end zone. On the next play Lacy carried the ball all the way down to the Murfreesboro one. Hunter Johnson punched the ball in on the next play for the touchdown and after a successful extra point attempt the score was 7-0 in favor of the Go-Devils

Murfreesboro returned to its 28, but only kept the ball for three downs before they had to punt.

The punt was downed on the Gurdon 30. Marcel Johnson started the drive with five yards. Lacy took the ball 36 yards the following play and went well over the 100 yards rushing mark in the first quarter. Davion Williams picked up a few. Next Marcel Johnson rushed for 24 yards.

Gurdon was in scoring position, but a few short runs and two penalties put the Devils in a third and 10 situation. Williams nearly picked up the 10 and a touchdown, but was stopped on the one. On fourth down and one quarterback Calvin Nolan handed to Marcel Johnson for the touchdown. The extra point was good and the score was 14-0 with 22 seconds left in the first quarter.

The Rattlers made a return to their 40 to start.

However, it ended quickly because of the Devils' defense. Two runs by Dixon were shut down and then Johnson threw a long pass right into the waiting arms of Williams. Gurdon started at its 36, but Marcel Johnson moved them 18-yards on the first play of the drive.

Hunter Johnson added 20 yards on the next carry. Marcel Johnson scampered 16 yards on two plays and Lacy finished the drive with a nine-yard touchdown run. The extra point was blocked and the score was 20-0.

After the kickoff, the Rattlers started on the 31.

Again they were denied any yardage by the Gurdon defense and had to punt.

The Go-Devils started on the Gurdon 41 after the punt went out of bounds.

Hunter Johnson started off by spinning and jumping his way for four yards. Lacy took the next carry and fumbled the ball into the air, came down with it never missing a step, and ran for 23 yards. Camron Kennedy helped Gurdon move to another first down, but failed runs on the next few plays set up a fourth and long situation.

Gurdon decided to go for it and tried the reverse, but it didn't work. The Rattlers took over on downs.

The Rattlers went three and out once again.

Gurdon got the ball back and tried to make a touchdown before the clock ran out, but couldn't and the half came to a close with the Devils up 20-0.

Gurdon received the kick and started at the Devil 35.

Penalties and a loss on a run put the Go-Devils in a second and 25 situation. However, it didn't seem to bother Lacy who darted 57-yards with the help of some excellent blocking for a touchdown. This put him over the 200 yard rushing mark for the night. The extra point sailed through and the score was 27-0 with more than 10 minutes left in the third quarter.

After the kick, Murfreesboro started on its 26.

The Rattlers picked up 14 yards through the air and nine on the ground. This success did not last though, because they fumbled and Gurdon recovered.

Barry Nolan made his return at quarterback on the next drive. Nolan was hurt since the first game of the season, but it did not look like he had lost a step, because he quickly found Williams for a 44-yard pass.

Two good runs by Marcel Johnson and Kennedy helped Gurdon move down the field and an unsportsman like conduct call against Murfreesboro put Gurdon on the five. Nolan finished off his only drive of the game with a keeper for a touchdown. The snap on the extra point was fumbled and the score was 33-0.

Gurdon again shut the Rattlers down on defense and made them punt.

However, Murfreesboro made the Go-Devils punt for the first time of the game on Gurdon's next possession.

The Rattlers got the ball back and started to drive. A pass interference call helped move them to the Gurdon 45. The defense held tough though and put Murfreesboro in a fourth and five situation. The snap on the punt play was low and seeing that the punt would be blocked, the Rattler punter ran the ball 10 yards to gain a first down.

After a flag and some tough Gurdon defense it was again fourth down and again the Rattlers converted. Johnson found Lowery for a 30-yard touchdown pass and with a good extra point the score was 33-7.

With the game winding down, Gurdon got the ball, but couldn't make it work on offense and punted.

Murfreesboro had the same luck, thanks to some hard hitting by Kenneth Harper, who would try his hand at running the ball when Gurdon started its final drive.

Harper plowed his way to 22 yards on three carries to end the game. Overall Gurdon had more than 450 yards rushing in the game.

Pace gathered players together after the game and told them to stay focused for next week's Homecoming game against Horatio.

"They are a much tougher team than last year," Pace said.

However, Gurdon is also improving. "Our offensive line keeps getting better," said Pace. "We didn't turn the ball over."

The Go-Devils will try to remain undefeated in conference play next week when they host Horatio next Friday at 7:30 p.m.