Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

Devils declaw Cougars in year's closest game

Despite the impressive speed exhibited by the Lafayette County Cougars and the absence of Go-Devil starting quarterback Lonnie Lacy, the Gurdon Go-Devils pulled off another 7AAA conference win on Friday, Oct. 27 at Go-Devil Stadium.

The Cougars took an early lead in the ballgame with two touchdowns in the first quarter. The first came when a Cougar intercepted a Go-Devil pass and ran it in for the six points. An extra point brought the Cougars to a 7-0 lead over the Devils.

The Cougars scored again with 3:32 to play in the first quarter. Another successful extra point brought the game to 14-0.

The second quarter clearly belonged to the Go-Devils. With only eight seconds off of the clock, OBryan Bell ran the ball in for a touchdown. An attempt at two points was no good, and the Go-Devils narrowed the Cougars lead to 14-6.

Go-Devil team captain Jonathan Lacy brought the ball back into the end zone once again with 8:31 remaining in the first half. Bell ran the ball in for a two-point conversion, and the teams went into the locker room tied at 14.

The Cougars scored the only points of the third quarter. With just over four minutes off of the clock, the Cougars took the ball into the end zone from the one yard line. An extra point attempt was successful, and the Cougars regained the lead with 21 points to Gurdons 14.

The Go-Devils were determined to win the ballgame, and with only seven seconds off of the clock in the final quarter of play, a 67 yard pass play to Bell brought the score to 21-20 with the Cougars still in the lead. A two point conversion on the touchdown, however, brought the Devils to a 22-21 lead.

With nearly the entire quarter left to play in the game, the Devils managed to hold the Cougars and secured their one point victory.

They never quit, Head Coach John Pace said of his team after the game. That football team should have beaten us bad. But the guys really wanted this one.

Pace said this win secures the second place seat in the conference as long as the Go-Devils defeat Horatio on Nov. 3.

If we come out and play well do well, he said.

The Devils will take on the Horatio Lions at Go-Devil Stadium at 7:30 p.m. on Nov. 3.