Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

Gurdon Pounces On Red Devils, 32-0

By JOHN MILLER

There was never any doubt about who would win Friday night's football game.

The Devils had the inside track. Of course, both teams taking to the gridiron bore similar names as Gurdon's Go-Devils were guests of the Lewisville Red Devils.

Gurdon's squad, however, proved to be too much for their hosts to handle as they posted a 32-0 win, in a game not as close as the score showed.

The Go-Devils were their own worst enemy throughout the contest as penalties plagued the Gurdon squad, killing potential scoring drives. In fact, the boys in purple and gold were flagged 14 times for 123 yards.

The host team, on the other hand, was nailed five times for 35 yards with laundry.

Lewisville won the toss and took the kick, with Terrell Davis fielding the ball at the two and returning it to the 12.

Three straight running plays netted a total of four yards, forcing the home team to punt.

Antonio Gatlin took the punt at the Lewisville 48, taking it to the 30.

After Josh Thomas lost a yard, the Go-Devils were hit with back to back holding penalties, pushing them the wrong direction and nullifying two excellent runs.

However, the penalties only delayed the inevitable as Kenny Hughes took the ball to the 22, followed by Thomas's carry to the nine before Mario Charles took it in for the score.

The point after attempt was marred by the third flag of the period against Gurdon and wound up being wide.

Didn't matter.

Lewisville tried a little razzle-dazzle on all of Gurdon's kickoffs, as the upback fielded the kicks, turned around, faked the ball to the first back and always handed to the second one through.

On Gurdon's first kickoff after a score, Lewisville began its offense at its 29 -- this was the only time the ploy worked with much success.

Lefthanded quarterback Eddie Walker stepped under center three times, dropped back three times, faced pressure all three times and missed connection with his intended receiver all three times.

The Red Devils were again forced to try and punt.

The Go-Devils, on the other hand, went through the line like a sieve and blocked the kick, with Ken Hughes recovering the ball for a touchdown at the 7:52 mark.

The point after attempt was low, but Gurdon held a 12-0 lead.

The remainder of the first period was blemished by hankies falling to the ground, preventing Gurdon from moving effectively offensively, while the Go-Devil defense was more than enough to thwart the home team's offense.

The visiting Devils were flagged five times for 40 yards in the opening 12 minutes, which seemed to last forever.

The second period was uneventful as neither team mounted a successful drive.

Gurdon's lone scoring chance fell apart when Jared Toland's pass to Keone Penney was intercepted by Ed Johnson with 8:51 left.

The Devils forced another Lewisville punt, but shot themselves in the foot by fumbling at the Red Devil 48 with 6:15 left.

Lewisville returned the favor later on, as Walker was picked off by Eric Allen at the Gurdon 19 with 1:43 remaining.

Gurdon added its third touchdown late in the third quarter. The two teams had swapped punts and penalties until the 6:03 mark.

The visitor's defense had held the home team, taking control of the oblong sphere at the Gurdon 23.

The first thing to happen was the Go-Devils flagged for illegal motion.

Thomas gained the five lost to penalty back, along with three more as he carried to the 24. M. Charles followed with a run to the 38, then to the 45, before Thomas bulled to the Lewisville 46.

M. Charles took it to the 35 before Lewisville was hit with an offside penalty moving the ball to the 30.

Four plays later, M. Charles carried the mail in for delivery from the nine, pushing the score to 18-0. The purple and gold tried for two, successfully, making it 20-0 with less than a minute remaining.

Though Gurdon's defense would bend, it never broke during the game, and forced the home red and white to punt again and again.

In fact, Lewisville punted a the 10:51 mark in the fourth, giving Gurdon the ball at its own 47.

It took the Go-Devils five plays to cover the necessary 53 yards for another touchdown, with Kaleph Williams going in from seven yards out.

However, it was big Josh Thomas leading the way, gaining 26 yards on two carries during the drive.

Again, the Devils missed the PAT, this time the kick went wide, but still led 26-0.

The Red Devils were burned with a holding call on the kickoff and were forced to start offensive play from their eight.

Two plays netted nothing for the home boys, winless on the season, before Amos Strickland fumbled at the seven, with Gurdon falling on the loose ball.

Gurdon called a time out with 7:16 remaining in the contest. When the Go-Devil offense returned to the field, Nick Hughes, wearing No. 54, took the ball over right tackle for the score.

The point after was wide again, but it really didn't affect the outcome of the game as Gurdon led 32-0.

The Red Devils mounted their final offensive threat, taking the kick at the 21 and returning it to the 44.

Lewisville mixed its passing attack with a short-lived ground game before losing a fumble with 55 ticks left on the clock.

Gurdon simply ran one play and let time expire to preserve the lopsided win.

Josh Griffin made a new friend during the game as a positive note. He spent the majority of the contest in the backfield chasing Walker, and put the Lewisville signalcaller on the ground several time.

Whether the two will correspond during the off season is not known at this time, but they did get well acquainted during the game.

Statistically, Gurdon dominated the game as well, going to 2-4 on the season and 2-2 in 7A-West play.

The Go-Devils posted 13 first downs to Lewisville's nine.

Both quarterbacks were intercepted once, but Gurdon's passing game went 0-2, while the host passer was four of 12 for 25 yards.

Gurdon punted three times for 83 yards, with none returned.

Lewisville was forced to punt seven times, for 173 yards, allowing 31 return yards.

Both squads fumbled three times, with Gurdon losing one and Lewisville coughing up the ball twice.

The Red Devils ran 55 plays, while Gurdon had 38 offensive snaps.

Gurdon also racked up 270 yards on the ground, while only giving up 75. Overall, the Go-Devils had 270 total yards to 100 by Lewisville.

The host team had 43 carries for 75 yards, or a 1.7 yard per carry average.

Gurdon backs rushed the ball 36 times for a 7.5 yard per carry average.

M. Charles was the leading ground gainer for Gurdon with 114 yards on 17 carries. Thomas had 12 carries for 110 yards.

K. Hughes carried once for 15 yards, while brother Nick carried once for seven yards. Gatlin racked up 13 yards on one carry, while Chauncey Charles carried thre