Montoursville outlasts Danville, 42-28, in old-school slugfest
Tagged under: District 4, Gameday Hub, News
Ed Weaver | October 3, 2020
In a match up of two unbeaten teams that lived up to its billing the Montoursville Warriors remained undefeated following a 42-28 win over Danville at Memorial Stadium on Friday, October 2.
“I don’t think it gets any better than that,” said Montoursville head coach JC Keefer after the win. “That’s exactly what we anticipated and a lot of people anticipated. You had two different teams out there tonight, we were going to go out and run the ball, they were going to the throw it, it was a neat match up. It came right down to the end, they never quit, we had them down 21 points at the end and they never quit. My hat’s off to Danville and their coaching staff. It was a fun game.”
The Warriors executed their game plan on their opening drive, rushing 9 times on the backs of Rocco Pulizzi and Dylan Moll down to the goal line where Dylan Bennett scored the game’s opening touchdown from a yard out with 5:33 to play in the opening frame. Danville answered back and tied the game up 4 plays later on a 27-yard strike from Kayden Riley to Carson Persing not even a minute later.
But the Warriors would answer back on the ensuing kickoff as Pulizzi out-raced everyone down the Danville sidelines for a 90-yard score, making it 14-7 with 4:16 left in the opening quarter. Montoursville quickly scored again, this time on the defensive side of the ball, on a 52-yard fumble recovery by Dillon Young to extend the lead to 21-7.
Midway through the second the Ironmen added their second score of the game. After taking advantage on excellent starting field position, at the Warrior 38, Danville needed only 6 plays before Riley found Jagger Dressler from 18 yards out with 7:27 remaining. Late in the quarter Danville had a shot to tie the game back up, but settled for a field goal after a penalty nullified a pass down to the one. The kick grazed off the side of the upright and fell no good as the first half ended.
As the second half started the Warriors used the momentum they gained from their defensive stand at the end of the half and carried that through to their opening drive of the third quarter. Near midfield Maddix Dalena connected with Moll for a 54-yard score to push the lead back to double digits, 27-14. That point-spread wouldn’t last long, however, as Dressler intercepted Dalena’s next pass attempt and returned it for a score with 5:29 remaining in the third.
From that point on the Warriors went back to their ground attack. Montoursville leaned heavily again on Pulizzi and Moll to get down into the red zone. The 13-play drive culminated on a play-action pass from Dalena to Heath Jones from 19-yards out to start the fourth quarter. After holding Danville to a three-and-out the Warriors returned to their ground game and ate up valuable time.
“That was the game plan,” continued Keefer. “We didn’t score but the mission was accomplished, we wanted to run as much time off the clock as we could and eat up some first downs. That was the goal at that point. The only way to stop their offense is to keep them on the sidelines.”
When the Ironmen did get the ball back, they didn’t maintain it for long as Young came up with his second defensive play of the night. This time he stepped in front of Riley’s pass and returned it 44 yards to the end zone to increase the lead to 42-21 with 2:22 remaining. Danville quickly scored as Riley connected with Dressler again on a 57-yard pass with 1:29 left to play. Danville tried the onsides kick, but Montoursville recovered, only to fumble the ball back to the Ironmen near midfield. With time running out and Danville driving inside Warrior territory, Bennett made a diving interception to seal the victory.
Montoursville improves to 4-0 (4-0 PHAC-II) while Danville falls to 3-1 (3-1 PHAC-II). Montoursville hosts Lewisburg next Friday and Danville travels to Central Columbia.
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