By MARTY WARREN
Contributing Writer

SOMERSET – A “dominant” Dominique Ford led a Danville defense that recorded 10 sacks and knocked down five passes as the Admirals scored both early and late and snapped a six-game losing streak to Somerset with a 41-21 win here Friday night. Somerset (1-7) simply didn’t have an answer for Ford and his defensive teammates as they lived in the Briar Jumpers backfield throughout the night.

“(Ford) certainly influenced the game with his play all night,” Danville coach Mark Peach said. “When he decides to turn it on he is one of the better football players on the field. Our entire defense really stepped it up in the second half. We made a couple adjustments at the half on the front line and secondary. We moved Corydon (Crawford) and Keelan (Story), who was celebrating his 18th birthday, to cover their number one guys because they were throwing a lot of 50/50 balls. they were just throwing it up and that gave us time to figure some things out before we could score and put the game away.”

The two teams swapped turnovers that ended up benefitting Danville and gave them a quick score.

Crawford’s 40 yard catch and run got him to the Somerset 10 yard line before he stumbled and fumbled and the Jumpers’ recovered at their own three-yard line. However, Guy Bailey, who led Somerset with 90 yards on 15 attempts, fumbled on the Jumpers first play and Danville recovered at the one-yard line. Demauriah Brown scored on the first play following the miscue and the Admirals led 7-0.

Later in the period, Crawford picked off a pass over the middle from starting quarterback Josh Gross and returned the pick 74 yards for a touchdown. Keegyn Wilcher tacked on the PAT for a 14-0 lead with just one minute, 47 seconds to play in the first period.

Danville looked poised to put the game away early when quarterback Brady Morse found Crawford wide open in the end zone for a 21 yard touchdown and a 21-0 lead with 9:39 to play in the half.

Somerset, however, replaced Gross with Josh Bruner, a 5”11, 163 lbs freshman, and the Jumpers offense suddenly came to life.

Bailey ran 53 yards untouched up the middle for one score and Bruner found Gross in the end zone for a 15 yard score and suddenly Somerset trimmed what looked like a comfortable lead to 21-14 at the half.

The third quarter saw neither team muster any offense before the wild fourth quarter.

Danville finally added some cushion when Story went around the left end and got a fantastic block from K.J. Stanfield for a 37 yard touchdown run.

The Ads would score again after a muffed punt gave Danville excellent field position at the Somerset 28.

Brown would score his second of three touchdowns on the night on the next play and Danville led 35-14.

Somerset would go 62 yards on eight plays to score on a 23 yard touchdown pass to Hayden Dick but Danville answered with a 51 yard six play drive of its own to put the game away. Brown, who led the Admirals in rushing with 115 yards on 14 tries, capped the drive with a 30 yard touchdown run.

“We got off to a great start, then had a little lull in the third quarter with some untimely penalties that always set us back,” Peach said. “I was proud of the guys, though, because in the fourth quarter we went some old school, double tight wishbone with some power and ISO’s. Our line did a great job and our backs ran really hard.”

It was the first district win and a win over Washington County next week would give the Admirals at least one home game, regardless of the result the following week against Lexington Christian.

“If we can secure the win next week we’ll get at least one home game,” Peach said. “We didn’t keep on about it but we reminded the guys we had lost six straight to Somerset. The seniors had never beaten them, so I am really happy for them.”

at Somerset
Danville 14 7 0 20 – 41
Somerset 0 14 0 7 – 21

First Quarter
D – Demauriah Brown 1 run (Keegyn Wilcher kick), 8:56.
D – Corydon Crawford 74 int. return (Wilcher kick), 1:47.
Second Quarter
D – Crawford 21 pass from Brady Morse (Wilcher kick), 9:39.
S – Guy Bailey 53 run (Christian Whitis kick), 6:43.
S – Josh Gross 15 pass from Josh Bruner (Whitis kick), 1:07.
Fourth Quarter
D – Keelan Story 37 run (Wilcher kick), 7:52.
D – Brown 28 run (Wilcher kick), 5:20.
S – Hayden Dick 23 pass from Bruner (Whitis kick), 3:09.
D – Brown 30 run (kick blocked), 1:25.

RUSHING – Danville, Demauriah Brown 14-115, Keelan Story 6-58, Brady Morse 8-25. Somerset, Guy Bailey 15-90, Kam Hughes 2-4, Josh Bruner 11-(minus 8), Josh Gross 3-(minus 16), Team 1-(minus 19).
PASSING – Danville, Morse 8-13-0-96. Somerset, Gross 3-7-2-34,
RECEIVING – Danville, Crawford 4-78, Brown 2-14, Story 1-2, Ryan Clarkson 1-2. Somerset, Hayden Dick 4-51, Cayden Cimala 5-54, Bailey 2-7, Michael Hawkins 2-17, Gross 2-28.