PIAA District IV Class 3A Championship Preview: Loyalsock Lancers at Danville Ironmen
Tagged under: District 4, News, Playoffs
Daniel Reed | November 16, 2022
Back on September 16th, 2022, these two programs squared off in an epic matchup between two (3-0) teams, in the end, Danville was able to hold on to a 17 to 14 victory over the Lancers. In the win, Loyalsock put up the numbers to win, but would also suffer three crucial turnovers, by way of the interceptions from Aaron Johnson, Cameron Kiersch, and senior Carson Persing, one of which would decide the game. The Lancers racked up over 450 total yards, led by senior quarterback Tyler Gee, who threw for 279 yards on 14 of 22 passing, but also with those 3 picks. Junior RB-Davion Hill rushed for 168 yards on 31 carries, scoring once, and junior wide-receiver Jaylen Andrews went for 121 yards on six receptions in the loss.
In the win for Danville, it was their defense leading the way coming up with the big stops when needed. Offensively for the Ironmen, senior quarterback went 12 of 13 passing for 169 yards and 2 touchdowns, one to Ty Stauffer, and the other to Carson Persing. Mason Raup led the receiving core that night with 92 yards on 4 catches, while the run game was sorta dormant, rushing for just 47 yards on 20 carries.
Coming Soon to a Football Field Near You !! For me … it is @sockathletics @ltsd_athletics Lancers(11-1) vs @Go_Ironmen Danville(11-0) … DIV Class Championship … *Rematch* from earlier this season. Watch for game preview on https://t.co/itNchAlebU soon. @PaFootballNews pic.twitter.com/cg6FI3eQyh
— Pennsylvania Football News (@PaFootballNews) November 15, 2022
Since that first game back in September, both teams have gone unbeaten with the Lancers winning their last 8 games, and the Ironmen going undefeated with an impressive 11-0 record including their playoff victories last week. The 17 points scored by the Ironmen in their game against Loyalsock was the lowest point total of the season for Danville, the same can be said for the Lancers as well as the 14 by them is the lowest point total too.
For the season, both these teams have some decent numbers beginning with Danville. The Ironmen on the season, including the playoffs, have racked up 557 points but that’s the impressive thing, their defense have given up just 36 total points thus far, 14 of them to the Lancers in week-4. Quarterback Zach Gordon has thrown for a decent 1500+ yards on a 75% completion rate, going 76 of 101, with just 1 interception and 24 touchdowns. Ty Stauffer leads the rushing attack with 892 yards, scoring 15 times and Carson Persing, with 801 yards and 18 touchdowns, lead the receivers. Garrett Hoffman and Aaron Johnson combined to go 66 of 68 on point after tries, with Johnson going 27 of 27, and Hoffman with 39 of 41. That’s pretty impressive I have to say !
For the Lancers, It’s the Tyler Gee, and Davion Hill show for the most part as, Tyler has thrown for just under 2500 yards, going 125 of 198, with 24 touchdowns, along with 7 interceptions. Hill has rushed for 1722 yards on 225 carries thus far, scoring 19 times. Gee follows behind with 582 yards rushing, scoring 10 touchdowns. Jaylen Andrews is the main target for Gee, catching 54 balls, going for 1331 yards in total while scoring 20 touchdowns in the process.
Common Opponents
| School | Common Opp. Rec. | School | Common Opp. Rec. | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Loyalsock Township | 5-0 | Danville | 4-0 |
Defensively for these two clubs, well the obvious advantage goes to the Ironmen with them giving up just 3 points a game. Leading the charge for the Ironmen defense is Mason Raup, a senior middle-linebacker, has piled up 117 tackles, 79 of which were solo, and 15 tackles for loss. Behind him is another senior middle-linebacker, Kincade Cush, who has 73 total tackles with 12 of those for loss. Sophomore’s Chase Miller and Cameron Kiersch lead the team in sacks with 9 total. A trio of defenders add three interceptions each with Carter Raup closely behind with two more to add on. The Lancers are led by Gavin Rice, a senior middle-linebacker as well with 97 tackles, 69 solo. Cy Cavanaugh follows closely behind with 85 total tackles, 58 of them solo. Davion Hill and Gage Patterson lead the secondary with 3 interceptions each. Logan Bastian, a junior outside-linebacker, leads the team in sacks with 3.
Below will shown some team by team comparison as well as our 2022 state-wide brackets, be sure to check them out as they are updated immediately following the games that weekend.
Team Stat Comparison
| Loyalsock Township | Danville | |
|---|---|---|
| 219.3 | Rushing Yards Per Game | 167.6 |
| 203.7 | Passing Yards Per Game | 171.9 |
| 423.0 | Total Yards Per Game | 339.5 |
| 59.5 | Tackles Per Game | 60.5 |
| 1.1 | Sacks Per Game | 2.3 |
| 39.5 | Points Per Game | 42.9 |
My Outlook: For the Lancers to pull off a victory, they will need to not turn the ball over against this very tough Ironmen defense, try to control the clock better by getting first downs to go along with them big plays. For the Ironmen, well, just play the same game they did the first game, with doing a better job at limiting Loyalsocks offense to gain yardage.
MY PREDICTION: Lancers will hang tough for the first 20 minutes, then the Ironmen begin to pull away, and win 38 to 14 !
click to see brackets
DON’T FORGET TO FOLLOW @pafootballnews on twitter AS WELL AS @PFNDan570FB, @BPtashinski, @kfeger30, and @FasnachtBrayden FOR ALL YOUR DISTRICT XI HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL COVERAGE !
Follow PA Football News on Twitter @PaFootballNews
You must be logged in to post a comment.