By John Minor

Special to the Advocate-Messenger

FRANKFORT — Danville’s football team started its Friday night game against Frankfort fumbling away the ball on the opening kickoff.

But that turned out to be one of the few negatives for the Admirals as they rolled to a 47-0 victory over the Panthers at Sower Field.

“I didn’t know if we were quite ready to play to begin the game,” Danville coach Clay Clevenger said. “Then we fumbled the opening kickoff so you’re like ‘Oh goodness,’ but we were able to get it back and from then on we were able to get things rolling.”

Danville caused Frankfort (3-7) to commit a turnover two plays later and took advantage by marching down the field for the game’s first score.

Donlevy Harris capped the drive off with a 2-yard touchdown run. Harris scored again in the first quarter. His second score came from 3 yards out, capping a five-play 15-yard drive set up by a bad snap on an attempted punt by FHS.

Frankfort committed six turnovers and Danville scored 34 points off of those turnovers, including Harris’ 55-yard interception return for a score in the second quarter.

Dmauriae VanCleave scored at the end of the first quarter on a 56-yard run and Danville led 21-0 after the first quarter.

Zack Dampier threw two TD passes in the second quarter — a 27-yarder to David Walker and a 46-yarder to Jaleel Warren. The latter came with 1 minute, 12 seconds left in the second quarter and led to a running clock for the rest of the game.

Tres Walker went 5-for-6 on extra point attempts in the first half as the Admirals led 41-0 at halftime.

Not only did the Admirals cause the Panthers to make miscues, but they limited their opponent in offensive yards and FHS never reached the red zone.

“We played fairly well defensively, there were a couple of lapses, but all in all we forced quite a few turnovers which is always good and the offense was able to capitalize on them,” Clevenger said.

Isaiah Miller scored the only TD of the second half on a 10-yard run with less than two minutes remaining in the game.

Danville finished the regular season with an 8-2 record. Now it’s on to the 2A state playoffs where the Admirals will host Allen Central (8-2) in the first round.

“Now is when you really have fun and press on in the playoffs and hopefully get an opportunity to get on a run,” Clevenger said. “We’ll see how it goes.”