Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

Go-Devils Thump Yellow Jackets

By JOHN MILLER

Friday night's game against Stamps may have been the most pivotal of the season for Gurdon.

The Go-Devils had to go on the road a week after being forced to forfeit to Dierks because the officials didn't show up for the game.

There were two directions for the Devils to go -- up or down. The team could have felt sorry for itself and gotten whipped, or got mad and taken last week out on the Yellow Jackets.

The latter occurred, as the Devils posted their second shutout of the season with a 33-0 trouncing. The Jackets should be thankful. The score is not indicative of how bad Stamps really got beat.

At no time did the Jacket offense ever make an appearance. Of course, that could have been because the Gurdon wrecking crew showed up in full force and gave up nothing.

Stamps won the opening toss, the only thing the Jackets would win during the game, and deferred, giving Gurdon the ball.

Rashun Hopson took the opening kick at the 15, carrying the ball to the 39 where the Devil offense took over.

The first three plays belonged to Chauncey Charles who moved the Devils to the Stamps 41. When he was given a break, the Jacket defense wasn't, as big Kaleph Williams ran through Stamps like a Kenworth truck.

His first carry netted 15 yards. It also earned a time out call from Stamps at the 9:50 mark in the period.

Charles carried three more times, moving to the 8 before the Devils were flagged for holding and moved back to the 22.

Jarrod Toland then went to the air, but found his opposite as Gary Millican, the Stamps quarterback, picked off the pass and ended the threat.

Sandwiched between an encroachment call and a motion penalty, the Jackets got off one play for no gain. Stamps ran two more plays before punting the ball back to the fired up Devils.

Gurdon took over at its own 48, with the offense again moving at will until being stopped by an illegal motion penalty. This put the Devils in a third and long situation, with Toland being picked off in the end zone.

Three plays later, Stamps punted again. But, on second down, Josh Griffin introduced himself to Vernon Joseph, trying to drive him under the turf.

Eric Hatley fielded the punt at the 50, giving the Devils great position to start at the Stamps 37, except for the fact the zebras dropped one of their hankies and nailed Gurdon for clipping. This moved the Devils back to their own 39.

Didn't matter.

Charles broke free on the first carry, sprinting to the Stamps 31 before being corralled as the period drew near its close. With 14 seconds left, Coach John Pace called a time out.

Upon returning to the field of combat, Antonio Gatlin took the handoff on a counter trap, burst through the line and raced to the promised land, crossing the goal line with seven ticks left.

Then the amazing occurred, Williams kicked his second extra point of the year.

Grover Henderson gave his team good field position at the 41, with the Jackets moving to the 46 as time expired in the quick period.

The first quarter lasted a scant 25 minutes.

Quarter number two began with Millican dropping back to pass, getting to meet a couple of Devil defenders and graciously throwing the ball to Gatlin at the Gurdon 49.

Unfortunately, Gurdon was unable to take advantage of this gift as the Devils were flagged for holding

On fourth down, the Devils lined up to punt, but Derrick Gulley took the short snap and rambled to the Stamps 46, short of a first down.

The Jackets ran four plays, getting their inaugural first down of the game, but turning the ball over when Millican was picked off by Gatlin at the Gurdon 30.

Gatlin had happy feet as he raced the remaining 70 yards for the touchdown.

Again, Gurdon lined up and tried to kick the extra point, only to see the ball sail wide right, giving the Devils a 13-0 lead with 6:37 left in the half.

Field position was no problem for Stamps as the Jackets began their next drive from the 40.

A running play gained a yard before Millican was picked off for a third straight time, this interception was made by Terry Cornish at the Stamps 41, and returned to the 35.

Two plays and 48 seconds later, Charles had covered the necessary ground for the touchdown, scoring on a 14-yard sweep.

Pace disdained the kick, opting for the two-point conversion instead. Toland drew the defense offside with a hard count, making the Gurdon offense's job much easier.

Charles again made use of the sweep to put two more points on the board and giving his team a 21-0 lead.

A mental mistake on the kickoff nearly proved costly as the kick rolled to the 16 before a Stamps player fell on the live ball.

Three plays later, though, Stamps punted back to Gurdon, giving the Devils possession at their own 45.

Kenny Hughes carried to the Stamps 45, being brought down the hard way -- by the facemask. This added 15 more yards to the end of the play, putting Gurdon at the 30.

Toland and Gatlin connected on a screen to the 19, with the scoring drive culminating with Hughes bursting through for the touchdown with 1:50 to go in the second.

The point after attempt sailed wide right again. And, again, the Jackets were penalized, this time for having too many men on the field and the Devils went for two. This was unsuccessful, but Gurdon held a commanding 27-0 lead.

Stamps ran four plays, earning a second first down, before the buzzer sounded ending the half.

While the heat and humidity seemed to take the legs out from under the Stamps players, Gurdon's Devils just kept rolling on as the third period started.

The Jackets began at the 29, running four plays before having to give the pigskin back to Gurdon.

The Devils moved from their 30 to the Stamps 21, but a third down sack and no gain on fourth gave the Jackets the ball.

Stamps only had possession for two plays as Millican tried to pass, saw it tipped by Griffin and wind up in the hands of Hopson, who took it to the Jacket 24.

From there, Williams rumbled to the 15 and Hughes carried three times to the two before Toland hooked up with Hatley for the six to make it 33-0 with 2:06 left in the period.

Paul Dedner fumbled the ensuing kick at the Stamps 19, picked it up and made a good run to the 50 before being stopped.

The Jackets appeared to be mounting a drive as they moved to Gurdon's 39 before the Devil wrecking crew woke up and pushed Stamps back to the 47 forcing a punt at the 10:25 mark in the final 12 minutes.

The fourth quarter saw mass substitution by Pace, giving everybody a chance to show what they could do.

Stamps was still unable to move the ball against Gurdon's subs, until the Jackets took over at their 34 with 2:08 left in the contest.

Millican came out throwing and connecting as he moved his team downfield. Stamps marched to the 46, and was aided by a facemask call, which put the ball on the Gurdon 39. Two plays later, the Jackets we