By MIKE MARSEE

Contributing Writer

Avery Bodner believes his grandfather would have liked this game very much.

Dickie Mayes was as Boyle County as they come, and he died three days before two of his grandsons, Avery and Austin Bodner, took the field for the Rebels’ annual rivalry game against Danville.

Those grandsons carried his legacy forward Friday night, combining to score four touchdowns as the Rebels walloped the Admirals 56-0 in the Title Town Showdown at Admiral Stadium.

Avery Bodner ran for touchdowns on three consecutive possessions in Boyle’s 34-point first quarter, and Austin Bodner had a rushing TD in the second quarter of one of the most one-sided games in the history of this rivalry.

“He would have definitely liked it,” Avery Bodner said of his grandfather. “Now with social media and everything, I don’t think the rivalry is as big as it used to be, but he always talked about how big the rivalry was between Danville and Boyle County back then, and it felt good to get in the end zone and honor him like that.”

The 60th city-county game was a rout from the outset. Boyle (3-0) used only 16 offensive plays and took advantage of two turnovers to score five times in the first quarter en route to its fourth consecutive win in the series, which Danville leads 35-24-1.

“We showed some maturity,” Boyle coach Justin Haddix said. “They came out and competed, and when they were in there they were going a hundred miles an hour, and that’s what I asked them to do.”

That competitive nature comes naturally for the Bodner brothers, whose Boyle football family tree also includes their father, another grandfather and several uncles and cousins. They are among a number of “positionless” players on the roster whom Haddix said help the Rebels succeed.

“They just come out and play football. That’s who they are, that’s what they do,” Haddix said. “The value that they bring to our team is special.”

Avery Bodner, a senior who is Boyle’s leading rusher and tackler, touched the ball on six of the Rebels’ 16 first-quarter plays – five rushing attempts for 42 yards and a 5-yard reception – and scored on runs of 1, 20 and 4 yards.

Austin Bodner, a junior who gets most of his playing time on defense, got his first career rushing touchdown on a 9-yard run that gave Boyle a 41-0 lead and triggered the running clock with 9:05 to play in the second quarter.

Dickie Mayes was an offensive guard and linebacker who earned all-state honors as a senior in 1971. He set a school record for tackles that stood until stepson Chris Whitehouse broke it in the 1990s, and he had a reputation as a hard-nosed player.

“All the people I’ve talked to that played with him said they hated practicing with him,” Avery Bodner said.

Avery Bodner said he’d like to believe he and his brother share some of their grandfather’s qualities.

“I don’t know if I was as hard-nosed as he was. Not many people are,” he said.

Haddix said he was happy that both Bodner brothers got to score to honor Mayes, and several other Rebels got in on the act as well.

Montavin Quisenberry set the tone for Boyle on its first play from scrimmage when he reversed field to gain 45 yards after a short pass, and he scored the first and last touchdowns of the first quarter on a 3-yard run and a 23-yard reception.

Geordon Brown had a touchdown catch in the closing seconds of the first half, and Ji’Dyn Smith-Hisel – Boyle’s leading rusher with 66 yards – had a rushing TD in the fourth quarter.

Sage Dawson completed nine of 10 passes for 142 yards and backup Baylor Murphy was 7 for 14 for 40 yards and his first career TD pass for Boyle, which hosts Scott County next week. Demauriah Brown, a high-profile transfer from Danville to Boyle this summer, had four receptions for 53 yards.

Avery Bodner, Bryce Bullock, Keenan Stewart and Tucker Acey recovered Danville fumbles for the Rebels, all of which led to scores.

“We’ve got to do a better job protecting the ball because our margin for error is already slim as it is with so many guys that are inexperienced,” Danville coach Frank Parks Jr. said. “We just can’t afford to have that amount of turnovers and expect to beat anybody, especially a team the caliber of Boyle County.”

Boyle outgained Danville 372 yards to 3. The Rebels kept the Admirals on their own half of the field and held them without a first down until the fourth quarter.

Parks said he didn’t want to pass judgment on what Danville might need to do better before its game this Friday against Mercer County – or what it did well – until he had a chance to review the game.

“I want to evaluate the film and get a true perspective of how some people performed or how we did or didn’t execute,” he said. “I want to see exactly the mishaps and any bright spots that we may have had.”

Braidin Baughman had 9 rushing yards for Danville (0-3), and Josiah Israel had a fourth-quarter fumble recovery.

 

Boyle County 56, Danville 0

Scoring summary

BC 34-14-0-8 – 56

DHS 0-0-0-0 – 0

First Quarter

BC – Montavin Quisenberry 3 run (kick failed), 10:56.

BC – Avery Bodner 1 run (Andrew Carr kick), 6:08.

BC – Av. Bodner 20 run (Carr kick), 4:43.

BC – Av. Bodner 4 run (Carr kick), :52.

BC – Quisenberry 23 pass from Sage Dawson (Carr kick), :30.

Second Quarter

BC – Austin Bodner 9 run (Carr kick), 9:05.

BC – Geordon Brown 5 pass from Baylor Murphy (Carr kick), :33.

Fourth Quarter

BC – Ji’Dyn Smith-Hisel 9 run (Lucas Akers pass from Kain Logan), 8:58.