Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

Go-Devils Roast Wolves (cont)

tt had the ball for one play as Johnston again was in the 'gun and sailed a pass deep.

This time, however, Hatley was waiting and intercepted the ball, giving the Devils possession at their 25.

Unfortunately, Gurdon's offense was unable to move the ball effectively and had to punt.

Mike Fountain took the kick on a bounce between two Gurdon defenders. Had either hit him, though, they would have been called for interference.

Fountain used this advantage to take the punt in for a 61 yard touchdown run and cut Gurdon's lead to 24-21. The PAT made it 24-22 with 9:13 left in the game.

This was much too close a score for Devil fans as the standing room only stadium got deathly quiet. Members of the Gurdon team, though, rallied the crowd, getting the noise to a respectable level and measurable on the Richter scale.

However, the Devil offense was unable to mount a scoring drive on the ensuing kick from Prescott, but did manage to eat several precious minutes off the clock.

In fact, the Devil "O" kept the ball six minutes as it moved from the Gurdon 25 to the Prescott 34 before being hit with a holding call.

This resulted in a Gurdon punt which pinned Prescott back at its 12.

Johnston was sacked on first down, with the Wolves being called for motion on second and 11.

Two plays later, Johnston was sacked again at the Wolf four. His fourth down pass fell incomplete, giving Gurdon the ball at the Prescott four with 1:48 left.

Williams took the handoff from Toland and simply bulled through the Wolf defense to the endzone to put some daylight between the Wolves and Devils.

The point after kick was wide right, but Gurdon held a 30-22 advantage.

There was still 1:45 left. Plenty of time for the Prescott offense after Flemons took the kickoff back to the 33.

While Gurdon fans were worried, the Devil players weren't. After all, they had waited years to get Prescott in this position and were not about to fold in the late going.

Johnston's first down pass was incomplete. His next pass found a set of hands, but the hands belonged to Hatley, who put the finishing touches on the contest with the pick at the Gurdon 33.

The Wolves had one time out remaining, which meant the Devils had to run plays. Gurdon moved to its 45 before the final buzzer sounded, giving the Devils the hard-fought win.

The Devils also dominated the game statistically in most areas.

Prescott completed three of 19 passes for 91 yards with two interceptions. Gurdon was three of 11 for 38 yards and had one picked off.

Both squads punted five times, with Gurdon seeing 132 gross yards and gave up a total of 59 return yards.

On the other hand, Prescott's punts traveled 184 yards, with Gurdon players getting 47 yards in returns.

The Devils were flagged six times for 45 yards, while Prescott saw laundry fall eight times for 43 yards in penalties.

The single most positive note of the game saw the Devils manage to avoid fumbling the ball at all. Prescott, though, put the ball on the ground three times, losing it once.

Gurdon had 13 first downs, while only allowing Prescott seven.

Gurdon ran 55 plays, while Prescott had 46.

The Devils had a total of 194 offensive yards, as compared to 153 for the Wolves. This is because Gurdon's ground game netted 156 yards, while Prescott's rushing offense was anemic and only managed 62.

Hughes led the Gurdon ground attack with 72 yards on 13 carries. Charles also carried the ball 13 times, gaining 41 yards. Toland ran six times for 13 yards, while Williams carried nine times for 24 and two touchdowns. Gatlin carried twice for nine yards.

Looking at other teams in the 7A West, Horatio lost to Bismarck 30-28 Friday night, while De Queen whipped Murfreesboro 26-6. Fouke humbled Foreman 42-12 and Mineral Springs hammered Lewisville 48-8. Stamps posted a 21-12 win over Bernice, La., with Valiant, Okla. smashing Dierks 40-12.

Gurdon's next opponent may well be the toughest game the Devils play for the remainder of the year, as they make the trip to Mineral Springs Friday, Sept. 26.

Looking at league standings, the Devils are alone at the top with their 3-0 record.

Mineral Springs is next with a 2-0-1 mark, but is 1-0 in league play. Dierks, Horatio, Murfreesboro and Stamps all have records of 1-2, while Foreman and Lewisville have yet to win a game.

The Gators are 0-2, while the Red Devils are 0-3.

Kickoff for Friday night's game is set for 7:30. The area's weather people have promise cooler temperatures for this contest.