Defending state champs hand Danville first loss

Published 8:33 am Saturday, October 10, 2020

By MARTY WARREN

Contributing Writer

Defending state champion Somerset clicked on all cylinders and handed Danville its first loss of the season 42-3 Friday at Admiral Stadium.

Danville (3-1, 1-0 district) stopped the Briar Jumpers on downs on their first possession but had problems containing talented quarterback Keiya Sheron and Somerset’s talented receivers. Most of the night, Danville’s defenders would be in position to make a play, but Somerset’s wide receivers had such a height advantage that they just went over them to make a play.

“Somerset is a long, athletic, good-looking football team,” Danville coach Clay Clevenger said. “We did a lot of good things but we couldn’t always finish a play or they would just make a play. There were a couple times where their receivers just went up over top of us to make the play. We couldn’t really cover it much better,”

Sheron, who has committed to the University of Kentucky, connected on 10 of 18 passes for 191 yards and ran for 66 more yards. Senior wide receiver Kade Grundy, who has committed to the University of Louisville to play baseball, had four catches for 122 yards and returned an interception 95 yards for a score.

Danville junior running back Caleb Burns, who rushed for 122 yards on 17 attempts, ran for 54 yards on the Admirals first offensive play and gave Danville excellent field position at the Somerset four, but a high snap from center lost 15 yards on the next play and the Ads had to settle for a 29-yard field goal by Zachary Morgan to grab their only lead of the night at 3-0.

“We had a couple opportunities to get the ball in the end zone but just didn’t do it,” Clevenger said. “We have to finish drives, We come out and gash them on first down with a big run and then have a hot snap and lose 15 yards on second down. That was indicative of how our night went. We would have two good downs on defense and on third down and 15 give up 20 yards.”

Somerset (5-0,1-0) got that score back on a five-yard run by Mikey Garland, then added two scores in the second period thanks in part to two outstanding catches from its receivers.

A 25-yard pass to Gavin Stevens over an outstretched Blake Jones set up the second of three rushing touchdowns by Garland, and Grundy’s 33-yard touchdown catch just before the half gave the Briar Jumpers a 21-3 halftime lead.

Somerset completely took the Admirals leading receiver Corydon Crawford out of the game. He had just two catches for 14 yards.

“We knew going into the game that they would try to take Corydon away and we would need somebody else to step up,” Clevenger added. “We’ve lost Keelan Story (who was injured in their season opener). He was the type of player we needed to make a key play opposite Corydon. Maybe toward the end of the season, we can get him back.”

Burns provided most of the offense, but Clevenger said he is getting worn down.

“We need him on defense, but he is wearing out awfully quick on us. We need to get him more rest. We need to re-evaluate how much we need him on defense because we need him so much on offense.”

Garland scored his third touchdown of the night on a 10-yard run for the only score of the third quarter, and Chase Doan added a one-yard run early in period four. Grundy finished the scoring with a 95-yard interception return.

“We’ll go back and look at the film and try to get better from it,” the Danville coach said. “We have a lot of seniors that will want to get back on the field for our next game.”

SCORING

at Danville

Somerset    7    14    7    14   – 42

Danville      3    0    0    0       – 3

First Quarter

DANVILLE – FG, Zachary Morgan 29, 8:30.

SOMERSET – Mikey Garland 5 run (Christian Whitis kick), 4:46.

Second Quarter

SOMERSET – Garland 1 run (Whitis kick), 9:27.

SOMERSET – Garland 10 run (Whitis kick), 8:14.

Third Quarter

SOMERSET – Chase Doan 1 run (Whitis kick), 9:27.

SOMERSET – Kade Grundy 95 interception return (Whitis kick), 4:39.

TEAM STATISTICS

                            S        D

First downs       17        12

Rush-Yds        31-159        32-94

Passing-Yds        191        72

Total Yds           350        166

Comp-Att-Int    10-18-0    9-17-1

Fumbles-Lost    0-0        5-0

Penalties-Yds    7-52        4-32

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING – Danville, Caleb Burns 17-122, Brady Johnson 3-4, Xzavion Grey 3-9, Sage Dawson 7-(minus 16), Enrique Gutierrez-Jacobs 1-(minus 10), Team 1-(minus 15). Somerset, Chase Doan 15-76, Kaiya Sheron 8-66, Guy Bailey 2-(minus 9), Jerrod Smith 3-10, Mikey Garland 3-16.

PASSING – Danville, Dawson 9-17-1-94. Somerset, Sheron 10-18-0-191.

RECEIVING – Danville, Corydon Crawford 2-14, Burns 3-25, Johnson 2-11, Blake Jones 1-22, Dontious Slaughter 1-22. Somerset, Kade Grundy 4-122, Gavin Stevens 2-31, Doan 1-17, Ricky Gilmore 2-13, Bailey 1-8.