Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

Gurdon Takes Mineral Springs (cont)

ghts to make it 19- 0.

Giving Mineral Springs its due, the Hornets refused to roll over and die. They took the kick at the 21, moving it to the 36.

Erwin hit Johnson with a bomb, moving the ball to Gurdon's 18. Gurdon's defense stiffened and forced the Hornets to turn the ball over on downs four plays later.

With 1:39 showing, the Devils simply ran out the clock and took the important conference win.

Unofficial statistics show Allen to have completed five of 12 passes for 44 yards, while Erwin was four of 17 for 55 yards.

Allen was sacked once, while Erwin met two Devils in the backfield for losses.

Gurdon punted the ball six times for 247 yards, giving up 45 yards in return for a net of 202 yards. The Hornets booted the ball seven times for 236 yards, allowing 20 yards in returns for a net of 216 yards.

The Devils showed to have more penalties than Mineral Springs, but this is because they declined several in key situations. The Devils were flagged nine times for 69 yards, with the Hornets showing three penalties for 15 yards.

Gurdon's offense cranked out 15 first downs, while the Hornet offense managed nine.

Turnovers played a key part in the contest as Gurdon had none for a change, yet forced five fumbles, recovering two, and picked off a Mineral Springs pass.

Gurdon's ground attack was awesome, as the Devils rushed for a total of 301 yards on 39 carries, while the defense gave up 134 on 33 plays.

This gave Gurdon a total of 345 offensive yards, while the Hornets had 189.

Charles led the Devil ground assault with 201 yards on 16 carries. Next up was Hopson who carried 10 times for 43 yards. Hatley carried four times for 37 yards, while Allen kept four times for 14 yards. Meeks had three carries for four yards, while Demond Beasley carried once for 20. Griffin carried once as well, but lost four yards.

In other games of interest to Devil fans, Foreman needed overtime to clip Dierks 29-28. Horatio outlasted Stamps 32-26 and Murfreesboro had the week off with a 47-6 win over hapless Lewisville.

This week's game is a big one for Gurdon as the Devils make the road trip to Dierks.

Last year, when Gurdon was cruising toward an undefeated regular season the officials failed to show for the Dierks game.

The Outlaw coaches agreed to play the game Saturday, but Dierks school administrators decided to make Gurdon forfeit the game instead.

Though the Devils appealed the forfeit, they were forced to suffer the 2-0 loss.

The players who went through this humiliation remember it well and want to repay the favor to Dierks this season.

Friday night's game promises to be a brutal one. Kickoff is scheduled for 7:30 p.m.

In other 7-AA West games, Foreman travels to Stamps; Horatio heads to Lewisville; and Murfreesboro will be entertained by Mineral Springs.