Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

Go-Devils Shoot Outlaws Out Of Saddle

Gurdon's Brannon Hatley scored four times against Dierks Friday night to lead the Go-Devils to a 34-14 rout of the Outlaws.

The rushing tandem of Hatley and RaShaun Hopson garnered 268 yards on 38 rushes as the Devils went to 1-1 in the 7-AA West conference and 3-2 overall.

Gurdon used a solid ground attack, mixed with an effective passing game to rack up a total of 388 yards against the outmanned and outgunned Outlaws.

The Devils saw the game open with Dierks squib kick the ball to Joe Plyler at the Devil 37. For nearly seven minutes Gurdon's offense kept the ball en route to its first score of the night.

Gurdon required 12 plays to drive the 63 yards and had to overcome clipping and illegal motion penalties before Colby Pace found Plyler with the touchdown pass.

Coach John Pace utilized Hopson and Hatley to wear out the Dierks defense as the two pounded away at the Outlaws. The two drove to the three before the motion penalty moved Gurdon back to the eight.

Before the flag, Pace had crossed the plane of the goal on a quarterback sneak, only to see the laundry nullify the score.

So, on third and goal, he winged the ball to an open Plyler, who scored with 5:20 left in the first period.

The point after attempt was blocked, but Gurdon held a 6-0 lead.

All year the Devils have been using short kicks after scoring, and Friday night was no different in the early going. After scoring, Eddie Fort pooch kicked the ball to Brad Efird at the Dierks 34, where the Outlaws took over.

Three plays netted three yards and Dierks was forced to punt, with the kick rolling dead at the Gurdon 30.

Once again, Hopson and Hatley battered the Outlaw defense, driving the Devils downfield in search of Gurdon's second touchdown of the night.

Hopson gained 19 yards on first down, with Hatley adding six on the next play.

The Devils drove to the Dierks nine when the buzzer sounded ending the first quarter of play.

Hatley took the handoff at the start of period number two and scored his first TD of the night.

This gave Gurdon a 12-0 lead, with Coach Pace calling for a two-point conversion attempt. The Devils added two more points to their tally when Hatley went in on a sweep.

With 11:55 left in the half, Gurdon led 14-0 and Dierks had yet to get its offense warmed up good.

This, though, changed with the next Outlaw possession.

J.D. McCullough fielded the short kick at the Dierks 37, where the Outlaw offense began.

From there, Steven Stapp bore the brunt of the load as the Outlaws marched 63 yards for their first score of the night.

Dierks used 11 plays and more than six minutes in the drive, which was capped off when Scott McLaughlin hit Lance Lowery with an 18-yard touchdown strike.

The Outlaws were aided by an offside penalty against Gurdon, as well as recovering a fumble early on in the drive.

The PAT was good, and the Outlaws had cut the lead in half at 14-7 with 5:08 left to play in the second.

Again, Dierks squibbed the ball, this time Adam Clark covered the errant pigskin at the Gurdon 43.

The Devils were set to drive the ball down Dierks' throat as Hopson and Hatley carried the load one more time.

Hopson gained four yards on two carries before Pace hit Walter Hart for a 30-yard connection to the Dierks 27.

Hopson gained nine on first down, only to see a motion penalty move the ball back on second down. However, Hatley got the penalty yardage back plus two on second down.

A sweep to Hopson ended up in a fumble recovered by Dierks at the 19 with 1:41 in the half, ending the potential scoring drive.

Stapp got the Outlaws away from their own goal line with a 12-yard run on first down, and fumbled the ball out of bounds on the play, stopping the clock.

Dierks managed to gain one more yard on the next three plays before punting to Hatley at the Gurdon 30. Hatley returned the ball to the 42 with 0:14.5 left.

He gained eight yards on first down, with Hopson adding 10 on a sweep as the half ended.

Gurdon opened the second half with a short kick to Efird at the Dierks 35.

The Outlaws wasted no time in tying the game and getting on the bad side of Gurdon.

Four running plays and a missed clipping call by the officials allowed Dierks to get to the 48 before McLaughlin hit Lowery on a 52-yard scoring play. The PAT tied the game at 14-14.

The squib kick was covered by Matt Dickerson at the Devils's 47. Gurdon lost five yards before getting the snap off because of an illegal motion penalty.

To make up for this, Pace found O.B. Moss at the Dierks 44 on first down, with Hatley adding 10 yards to his stats on the second play.

The second half saw a different type of offense from Gurdon as Hopson was split out and not in the tailback position.

Following an incomplete pass, Hatley carried three times to the Outlaw 10.

Pace then hit Hopson for a six-yard gain, before Hatley capped the drive two plays later.

With 5:01 left in the third, Gurdon was up 20-14. The PAT split the uprights to make it 21-14.

Then the Devils did something different, with Fort kicking away. The ball was fielded by Justin Allen at the 10, and returned it to the 15.

Five plays later the Outlaws were in a fourth down situation at the Dierks 41.

The Outlaws needed a yard to maintain possession, but lined up in punt formation. The ball was snapped, a pass thrown and picked off by Hopson at the Gurdon 48 with 3:42 left in the period.

Had Hopson knocked the ball down, the Devils would have had better field position at the Dierks 41.

The turnover turned out to be for naught as Gurdon had to punt the ball away three plays later. It was the only time in the game the Devils punted.

Dierks took over at its own nine after the 41-yard punt.

In three plays the Outlaws moved to their 25, with the buzzer ending the third 12-minute segment of play.

Dierks ran two plays at the start of the fourth before having to punt to the Gurdon 34.

Then it got nasty. The Devils ran four plays to cover the 66 yards and push their fourth touchdown across the goal.

One of the four plays was an incomplete pass, with the drive ending on a 35-yard run by Hatley.

Gurdon's try for two failed, but the Devils still held a 27-14 lead.

Allen fielded the kickoff at the 21, moving the ball six yards upfield to the 27 where Dierks' offense took over.

First down saw McLaughlin toss the ball to Stapp on a halfback option pass. However, the rush forced Stapp to pull the ball down and run for his life.

The Outlaws managed to move to their own 41 before a counter ended up with the ball on the ground and in the hands of a Gurdon defensive player at the Dierks 48.

The Devils began their final scoring drive of the night with 7:33 left in the contest.

After a 10-yard gain on first down, Hatley was held in check the next two plays. Third down saw Hatley gain eight yards and the Devils line up to try and make the required two yards on fourth down.

This they did easily as Hopson gained eight to the 21.

From there it was the Hatley show as he carried three more times to score his fourth touchdown of the night. The score came on a 15-yard run with 2:57 left in the contest.

The point after was good and Gurdon led 34-14.

Jasper Fatheree took the kick at the 20, returning it to the 33 for Dierks.

The Outlaws began moving through the air as time was not on their side. McLaughlin winged pass after pass to move the visitors down field, getting to the Gurdon 15 before the drive stalled.

A desperation fourth down pass went incomplete, giving Gurdon the pigskin at the Devil 20 with 0:9.5 showing on the clock.

The Devils ran two plays, with Lee Marks gaining six yards before time ran out.

It was a much needed win for the Devils after the debacle at Mineral Springs a week earlier.

Gurdon dominated the offensive statistics in all categories.

The Devils ran 51 offensive plays, 42 rushing plays, while Dierks had 44.

Gurdon racked up 287 yards on the ground, while the Devil "D" allowed but 74.

Pace was six of nine for 101 yards in the air, while his counterpart, McLaughlin was eight of 17 for 93 yards.

This gave Gurdon a total of 388 offensive yards, while Dierks had 167 total yards.

Gurdon punted once on the night for 41 yards and no return. The Outlaws booted the ball three times for 105 yards, while allowing a 12-yard return.

The one area Gurdon dominated, but didn't need to was in penalties. The Devils were flagged five times for 30 yards, while Dierks never saw a hankie hit the ground.

Gurdon fumbled twice, losing it once, while Dierks put the ball on the ground four times, losing one.

Neither quarterback was sacked in the contest.

The Devils ran up 18 first downs, whil giving up 13.

Hatley carried the ball 23 times for 161 yards, while Hopson gained 107 yards on 15 rushes.

Plyler gained 10 yards on his only carry, while Marks had nine on three rushes.

In other 7AA West action, Foreman hammered Stamps 56-20; Horatio clipped Lewisville 16-6; and Mineral Springs blanked Murfreesboro 28-0.

This doesn't change the league standings as the Hornets are all alone in first with a 4-1 overall record but a perfect 3-0 conference mark.

Foreman, still undefeated at 5-0, is next with a 2-0 league record.

Gurdon is in third at 3-2, 1-1; followed by Murfreesboro at 3-2, 1-1. The Yellow Jackets also have a 3-2 regular season record and a 1-1 conference mark.

Horatio is 1-4, 1-1; with Dierks 1-4, 0-2. Lewisville brings up the rear with an 0-5 record on the season and a 0-3 conference standing.

This week the Devils will be on the road as they travel to Stamps to take on the Jackets.

Kickoff is set for 7:30 p.m.