Trending
DANVILLE - Zach Gordon stepped up into the pocket one step. Then another. And another.
The Danville quarterback used the momentum and unleashed a rocket from his right hand. He put it in a spot between three Loyalsock defenders where only his receiver would be able to catch it. Carson Persing did just that.
Falling to the turf at Ironmen Stadium, Danville’s all-state receiver plucked the football off the top of the blades artificial turf and cradled it to his body as he tumbled in the end zone. The 27-yard strike with just six seconds left in the first half and the subsequent touchdown the Ironmen scored after halftime changed the tide of Friday’s District 4 Class AAA semifinal. Danville’s seven-point lead ballooned to 21 in a matter of just 3 game minutes.
The Ironmen finished off a 42-21 win over Loyalsock last night by running for 352 yards as a team and holding dynamic 1,000-yard back Davion Hill to just 57 yards as they earned a spot in next week’s district title game. Danville will host Montoursville - a 17-14 winner over Milton - on Friday night for a spot in the state tournament. It’s a rematch of last year’s district final, which the Ironmen won, 31-21.
"The end is never fun. It’s never a good feeling," Loyalsock coach Justin Van Fleet said. "The conclusion of a story is never a good ending in football with the exception of a few teams in the state."
Friday’s ending for the Lancers was particularly hurtful just because of how it happened. Hill ran for 180 yards in the teams’ first meeting, which Loyalsock won, 26-21. In that first meeting, Danville managed just 36 rushing yards.
But the script flipped entirely Friday night. Danville controlled the line of scrimmage on both sides of the ball. The Ironmen ran for a season-high 352 yards. Ty Stauffer’s 199 yards was his second-most this year. After missing the last six games with an injury, Gordon ran for 55 yards and four touchdowns.
"We knew how we played up front was going to have to be the key coming in," Danville coach Mike Brennan said. "We knew they had the skill to match up with us. And I think all of us recognized whoever controlled the lines would win the football game. And I felt like our guys did that on both sides of the ball."
While Hill ran for 57 yards on 14 carries, 32 of those yards came on two carries. Otherwise, the shifty back never seemed to have any running room to try and making people miss. Conversely, Stauffer was running free behind an offensive line which pushed around Loyalsock’s defense like a blocking sled. Stauffer averaged better than 7 yards per carry. As a team Danville averaged 6.7 yards a carry. And only three of their 52 totes went for negative yardage, and one of those was a kneeldown to end the game.
"Coach Brennan stressed the whole week this game was going to come down to what happened in the trenches," Stauffer said. "And it felt like we came out and played hard there."
But what Danville did up front wasn’t just about creating running lanes. It was also about keeping Gordon clean in the pocket. On his pivotal touchdown strike to Persing, he had all day to sit back and examine the field. To that point, Loyalsock’s secondary had done an immaculate job of covering up receivers. When Gordon did throw, it was to tight windows where on more than one occasion Lancer defenders knocked passes away.
In this particular instance, by stepping up in the pocket, Gordon bought himself and his receivers some time to allow the play to unfold. Persing was able to find a window between defenders and Gordon delivered the ball there like a Gerrit Cole fastball. Persing was held to just three catches and 30 yards last night, which was his second-worst production of the season in both categories. But the 27-yard touchdown strike gave Danville a 21-7 lead heading into halftime and the Ironmen were getting the ball back to start the third quarter.
It also closed out a second quarter where Danville scored twice and recorded seven first downs. Over those 12 minutes, Loyalsock managed just one first down and no points.
"That was just a great drive," Brennan said. "I was impressed by our protection there. (Gordon) was pretty much untouched the entire drive. And that throw and catch from Carson was something."
"In the second quarter we had a tremendous amount of execution issues offensively and defensively," Van Fleet said. "They made some plays and we didn’t."
Van Fleet’s explanation may have been oversimplified, but it was the truth. Danville continually made plays offensively. Whether it was Gordon cashing in long drives with runs in the red zone, or Stauffer popping a 44-yard run on the third quarter’s first play to set up a back-breaking touchdown. When there was a play to be made, Danville made it. Loyalsock didn’t find any sustained offensive rhythm until it was too late, and then two fumbles ruined any momentum they had picked up.
The loss snapped the Lancers’ four-game winning streak in which they had scored at least 40 points in all four games. The win for Danville sent it to the district final for the third time in four years.
"This is what we want," Stauffer said. "We get to play (Montoursville) at home. It’s going to be a lot of fun."