Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

Go-Devils Blast Outlaws From Saddle (cont)

he Outlaws gambled on the ensuing kick, with another onside attempt, this time recovering the pigskin at Gurdon's 49.

Ben Allen took the handoff from Huddleston, but was stripped by Josh Griffin, giving Gurdon the ball at its 49.

The Devils were unable to sustain a drive and prepared to punt to Dierks. However, Tommy Otwell failed to handle the snap cleanly and, therefore, was unable to punt the ball away.

Dierks took over deep in Gurdon territory at the 38.

The Outlaws used four plays before Huddleston connected with Bruce on a nine-yard TD pass.

The try for two was broken up leaving the score 14-12, where it stayed.

The Devils, however, were flagged for a late hit on the play, with the penalty assessed on the kick, from the Gurdon 45.

Again, Dierks tried for an onside kick, but Pace had put his "hands" team on the front line.

The ball hit Mario Charles in the chest, bounced off, but he was able to fall on it for the Devils at the 32.

Gurdon's offense moved to the Dierks 17 before a motion penalty thwarted the drive. On fourth down, the Devils were short, giving the Outlaws the ball on downs with 6:12 left in regulation play.

Defensively, the Devils rose to the occasion and punished Outlaw ball carriers, forcing what appeared to be another punt.

However, the home team called time out with 4:27 left and decided to try a fake kick.

Huddleston, who doubled as the Outlaw punter, winged a pass to Jeremy Simmons in the flat. But the pass fell incomplete, giving Gurdon the ball (and game) at its own 33.

For the remainder of the game, Gurdon's offense held onto the ball, keeping the Dierks defense on the field.

But, it wasn't as easy at it sounds. With 2:00 left in the contest, the Devils were faced with a fourth and 16 at the Dierks 36.

Pace called the play. Gurdon lined up in punt formation. The ball was snapped to Thomas, playing upback, who headed toward the right side of the line.

He was met at the line by a host of Outlaws, who bounced off his massive chest. Thomas rambled, bulled and plowed through the Dierks defense, reaching the 13 before a defender brought him down by sliding down his chest and wrapping up his legs.

From there, the Devils simply ran out the clock and savored their first win of the 1996 season.

The win is so much sweeter because the players had dedicated the game to Coach Randy Kizer, who has returned from his medical problems.

It didn't hurt to spoil the Outlaw homecoming and post their first 7A-West league opening win either.

Statistically, it was no contest at all.

Gurdon racked up 349 total yards, while allowing 156 to Dierks. The Devil ground attack posted impressive numbers with 285 yards, while giving up 134.

Toland was three of eight in the passing department for 64 yards and a touchdown.

Huddleston was three of nine for 22 yards.

The Devils put the ball on the ground three times, losing it once.

Dierks fumbled three times, coughing it up twice, each time on a Josh Griffin strip of the ballcarrier.

The Devils posted 19 first downs in the contest, with Dierks getting 12.

Gurdon ran a total of 55 offensive plays, to Dierks' 42.

The one area Dierks won was in punting. The Outlaws punted five times for 157 total yards with none returned.

Gurdon punted once for 43 yards.

Thomas carried the mail 10 times for 93 yards as the Devils' second leading ground gainer of the game. Chauncey Charles had 25 carries for 132 yards.

Kenny Hughes carried six times for 51 yards, while T.J. Eckert had a carry for 11 yards. Mario Charles netted two yards on three tries.

Toland's numbers don't reflect much of anything as he lost four yards on two carries. This is because both carries were kneels at the end of the game to run out the clock.

The Devils (1-3 on the season and 1-1 in league play) will return to the friendly confines of Gus Brown Stadium Friday night as they play host to the Stamps Yellowjackets in another conference game.