Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

Stamps Gets Licked

Stamps found out the hard way a team can't win by fumbling the ball away.

Gurdon, ranked fifth in class AA in the state, took advantage of three Yellow Jacket turnovers to post a 27-0 win Friday night at Gus Brown Stadium and remain perfect in the 7AA West Conference. Overall, though, Stamps put the ball on the ground seven times.

The Go-Devils need but one more win to secure a spot in post season play, but would prefer heading into the playoffs with a perfect league record.

As it stands, they are tied for first in the division with Murfreesboro with 3-0 conference records and 5-1 overall marks.

These two teams will meet Friday, Oct. 30, with the Devils having to make the trip to Rattler territory.

The game opened with Stamps winning the toss and deferring until the second half.

This didn't bother Gurdon as the Devils took the kick to start the game. Chauncey Charles fielded the kick at the 14, giving the team good field position at the 29.

Unfortunately, three running plays failed to net the needed 10 yards and Gurdon was forced to punt.

Josh Griffin's kick sailed to Tyrone Johnson at the Jacket 35, bouncing off his chest and winding up in the hands of Gurdon's Chad Cox at the 33.

This time, Gurdon took advantage of the situation. Charles rumbled to the 29 on first down, before Eric Allen found Griffin on a slant for six with 8:19 showing.

The point after sailed wide right, but Gurdon still led 6-0.

Griffin then squibbed the kickoff to Scott Madison at the Stamps 25, with the kick returned to the 36 where the Jackets finally set up their offense.

Stamps showed they could run the ball against the Devils potent defense, relying heavily on a reverse play Gurdon took a while to figure out. The Jackets were also aided during their first possession by a facemask call against Gurdon.

As Stamps moved to Gurdon's 29 and, for a while, looked like they would score, Johnson coughed up the ball for the second time, with Adrian Meeks falling on it for the Devils at the 28.

On the first offensive play after the turnover, Gurdon was nailed for holding, with the ball moved to the 23.

Charles was the workhorse for the Devils on the possession as he carried four times in seven plays. Still, the drive stalled on a motion call against Gurdon and Griffin punted for the second time of the night.

This kick rolled dead at the Stamps 13, putting the Jackets in the shadow of their own goal.

A trio of running plays gained seven total yards for Stamps, resulting in another punt to the Devils.

The punt sailed to the Gurdon 49, where the home team took over with 1:25 showing in the first.

The Devils wasted no time in chewing up chunks of yardage. Charles gained 16 on first down, and added three on the next play before Allen's second pass attempt was slapped down.

Allen made up for this on third down by rolling to his right and connecting with Cox at the Stamps 21 for a first down to end the first period.

The Devils needed four more plays to cap this drive with their second touchdown of the night, coming with a pitch to Charles from a yard out.

With 10:07 showing, the Devils deciding to go for two. Allen decided to keep the ball and powered into the end zone to put the home team up 14-0.

Stamps's receivers had problems on kickoffs and punts all night. On the ensuing kickoff, Johnson let the ball bounce before picking it up at the 14. By the time he got control of the ball, he was fortunate to make it to the 18.

The Jackets again began moving the pigskin downfield toward Gurdon's goal line, relying strictly on their ground game pitches, sweeps and the reverse. However, Stamps telegraphed the reverse play each time they planned to run it by lining up in the same formation with Johnson in the slot.

Still, when push came to shove, Gurdon's defense stiffened and forced a punt attempt after Stamps had run eight plays and moved to Gurdon's 45.

As the Jackets lined up for the punt, the snap was high with a heavy rush. This resulted in the punter being sacked at the Stamps 47 where Gurdon's offense took over.

It took six plays for the Devils to cover the remaining 47 yards. Brannon Hatley got things underway with a four yard gain to the 43.

Charles then took a pitch and rumbled to the 24 before Hatley added six more to the 18. After Charles moved the line of scrimmage to the 15, Allen got into the act and pushed it to the 11 on a keeper.

Play six was strictly for show as KATV Channel 7 was on hand for the game. Charles took the pitch around left end, sprinted to the end zone and leaped over a defender at the goal line for the cameras (he wanted to look good on the sports news after the game).

Incidently, Gurdon was up 20-0 at the time, with Griffin splitting the uprights to make it 21-0.

Paul Dedner fumbled the kick at the 10, recovering it and getting up to the 20 with 1:39 left in the half.

Stamps ran three plays, gaining 13 yards and let time run out.

The Jackets took the second half kick with Dedner fielding the ball at the 13, returning it to the 26.

Five plays later, Stamps punted to Gurdon's 24 as the Devils were wary and had no receiver back to field the kick.

With the exception of Gary Millican, the Stamps quarterback getting sacked the only time he dropped back to pass, and a fumble by the Jackets, the third quarter was quiet.

The two teams battled between the 20s and punted to one another otherwise.

With time running out in the period and Gurdon in possession, Allen decided to run a keeper, with the officials deciding Stamps's response was less than sportsmanlike. This moved Gurdon 15 yards closer to the promised land at the Jacket 44.

It also appeared to spark the Devil offense as Hatley gained five as the buzzer sounded ending the third quarter.

Unfortunately, the Devil drive stalled at the Stamps 40 after Allen was unsuccessful on two pass attempts.

The Jackets took over on their own 40 with 10:59 remaining. They kept the ball until the 6:38 mark, managing to move to Gurdon's 44, where they turned it over on downs.

Gurdon's offense was primed and ready. Allen gained one on first down, before the Devils utilized a reverse to Griffin for nine more, coming up just short of a first down.

This was remedied when Hatley carried to the 37 on third down.

Allen went to the air, connecting with Jeff Rhodes at the 31, then finding Demond Beasley for six with 3:36 left in the game.

The Devils led 27-0 and had the PAT blocked.

The kick to Madison at the 28 was fumbled with Stamps falling on the loose ball.

Tobiah Easter took over duties under center and moved the Jackets to the 45 before turning it over on downs.

Though the Devils too