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Danville gets Upper-Hand Against Loyalsock Once Again

Tagged under: District 4, Gameday Hub, News, pfn

| October 11, 2024

Entering tonight, just three games are left in the Pennsylvania High School Football Season. The Danville Ironmen entered the game against Loyalsock with an undefeated regular season in mind. After their complete showing, they improved to 8-0.

Danville has leaped to perennial power at 3A. Gone are the days of being happy with just a district title; they are looking for the ultimate prize, a State Championship. Their dynamic offense, coupled with their shutdown defense, makes the Danville Ironmen one of the top teams in the state. QB Madden Patrick, one of the state’s finest passers, has been up to par in 2024. He entered the game with 16 touchdowns to just 1INT. Potentially the most impressive statistic of Patrick’s 2024 campaign is his yards per completion. Patrick is averaging nearly 17 yards per completion. This stat is heavily influenced by the weapons on the Ironmen offense. Bo Sheptock, Cole Duffy, and Carter Raup have all been phenomenal in the 8-0 start.

Loyalsock enters the game at a crossroads. A win, and they lock in another winning season. A loss, and they are 5-3 with a date with one of the best teams in the state in Shamokin next week. In this game, the latter occurred.

It has been an up-and-down season for the Lancers of Loyalsock. They have enjoyed more success than failure this year, but when a failure occurs, it’s ugly. In their two losses entering tonight, they have been outscored 74-13. Their five wins have been overshadowed by their 2 blowout losses. Loyalsock has struggled at the QB position in 2024. They have yet to find a bonafide starter to put up good numbers. RB Dolan Harmon and WR Jalil Coates have put up good numbers this year, but the offense is a downgrade from a year ago.

7-0 Danville vs 5-2 Loyalsock, here’s how it played out:

Both defenses started strong, as they both forced stops on their annual possessions. It’s difficult to keep a good offense out of the endzone, it’s almost impossible to keep a great offense out of the endzone. It was only a matter of time until Bo Sheptock was able to find a hole for 6.

Scoring against the Loyalsock defense was so nice, that Sheptock had to do it twice.

Loyalsock would get a field goal as the first half experienced, Danville led 14-3. The story of the first half was Danville’s defensive resiliency. Loyalsock RB Dolan Harmon is a physical back, and he was imposing his will on the Ironmen front, but not for the whole game. Danville loaded the box, combatted Harmon’s physicality with gang tackling, and was able to subsidize his efforts.

When Danville plays from a lead, they’re tough to stop. In the 2nd half, they added 14 more points to make the final score 28-3 ( look away Falcons fans).

Once again, Loyalsock fails to be competitive in now their third loss of the season. In their three losses, their closest margin of defeat was 14 against Lewisburg. They were unable to generate a consistent passing attack, and the entire offense felt the struggle. Once Danville didn’t start to respect the Loyalsock passing attack, they were able to then shut down the run effectively. The road does not get any easier as they take on Shamokin at home next Friday at 7.

Danville is 8-0, but not content with the undefeated mark. Head Coach Carl Majer said, ” Our tackling, our run-blocking, man coverage, we need to improve in a lot of different areas. We’re banged up, we’re not playing to our full potential.” The defense was able to shine in this win, as they allowed just a field goal across 48 minutes of play. Danville will travel to Shikellamy next Friday Night.

 

FULL INTERVIEW WITH CARL MAJER

Follow PA Football News on Twitter @PaFootballNews

 
 
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