Published: September 06, 2008 09:56 pm      

Offense deserts Warriors in loss to Danville

Danville — This time Danville didn’t rely on its passing game to win.

Instead, the Admirals turned to an opportunistic defense and a familiar running game to turn back visiting Southwestern 26-7 on Friday night.

“We were so much better defensively than we were our first game (a 45-31 win over Russell County),” said Danville coach Sam Harp. “We still broke down against a big, strong team because they just ran it down our throats at times. But when we had to make plays, we did.”

That included a goal-line stand early in the game and another key defensive stop in the second quarter. Those stops combined with 182 yards rushing and two touchdowns by senior Antwoine Simon enabled the Admirals to outlast the Warriors.

“I was right. Sam was wrong. Danville does have another good team,” Southwestern coach Dale Anderson said. “You have to give Danville credit. Their defense stood up when it had to. We could have scored two touchdowns the first half, but we didn’t get any. That’s partially our fault, but also partially credit to Danville’s defense.”

Danville’s biggest defensive stop came on Southwestern’s first possession when the Warriors drove 94 yards to the Danville 1-yard line and had two more plays to score. First, the Admirals held Jacob King to no gain and on fourth down quarterback TT Wooldridge fumbled the snap and had no chance to score.

“The goal-line stand was huge,” Harp said. “If we don’t stop them there, all the momentum is with them.”

“You don?t beat good teams fumbling on the goal line. You have to have the gumption to stand in there, get the snap and hand the ball off. If we do, we score,” Anderson said.

The stop was even more significant because Simon broke one tackle, stepped out of another tackle and raced 75 yards down the sideline after an 18-yard pass to Zach Dawson got the Ads away from their own end zone.

“I got some great blocks and just ran. It wasn’t hard on my part,” Simon said.

“It was just a great run by Simon. Give him credit,” Anderson said.

In the second quarter, Southwestern took over at the Danville 49 trailing 7-0 and needed six yards for a first down on a fourth-down play at the 18 when Wooldridge was sacked for an 11-yard loss by Dawson.

“That was another huge stop by our defense and great play by Zach,” Harp said.

The defense wasn’t done.

Southwestern started the second half just like it did the first half -- using its big offensive line to overpower the Admirals. The Warriors drove to the Danville 18-yard line behind the running of King before throwing three straight incompletions to kill the drive.

“We just didn’t throw the ball well tonight when we had chances,” Anderson said of Wooldridge’s 6-for-15 passing for 44 yards.

Danville (2-0), which threw for 431 yards against Russell County, gave Southwestern a dose of its own medicine with an 11-play, 82-yard drive that featured nine runs by Simon, including the 7-yard scoring run. The Ads went with two tight ends and ran out of the I-formation compared instead of the spread formation they used in their opening win.

“The (Wish) bone is just not for us this year. We?re better in the I because Antwoine, and even Jacody Taylor and Will Dunn, are downhill runners. If we can run like this, it gives us a new dimension,” Harp said.

Southwestern (1-1) scored in period four when junior safety Alex Jones returned an interception 35 yards to set up King’s 7-yard touchdown run with 7 minutes, 18 seconds left. However, Danville responded when Grey hit Derrick Henderson with a 58-yard scoring strike and then found Dunn for an 18-yard score.

Grey finished the game 8-for-17 passing for 160 yards with Henderson having three catches for 89 yards.

“Trae made some big plays and made things happen. We had some drops that were disappointing. I thought we could hit that play to Derrick because they were loading up to stop Antoine. But I also probably got too greedy when we threw that interception leading 13-0,” Harp said.

“We took some chances at the end that probably gave them a couple more scores,” Anderson said. “But that’s what you do if you want to win. We didn’t come to play close.”

Southwestern (1-1) finds themselves on the road apian next week when they travel to South Laurel for their first district match-up.



SW 0 0 0 7 — 7

DHS 7 0 6 7 — 26



First Quarter

Danville -- Antwoine Simon 75 run (Max Meckes kick), 2:41.

Third Quarter

Danville -- Simon 5 run (kick blocked), :42

Fourth Quarter

Southwestern -- Jacob King 7 run (Nick Zimmerman kick), 7:18

Danville -- Derrick Henderson 58 pass from Trae Grey (pass failed), 4:44

Danville -- Will Dunn 18 pass from Grey (Meckes kick), 1:25



INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING--Southwestern, Jacob King 24-121, Adam White 5-28, TT Wooldridge 12-15, Blake Tuttle 1-4. Danville, Antwoine Simon 23-182, Jacody Taylor 3-5, Trae Grey 4-minus 8, Derrick Henderson 1-0.

PASSING--Southwestern, Wooldridge 6-15-44-0. Danville, Grey 8-17-160-2.

RECEIVING--Southwestern, White 4-28, Alan Williams 1-10, Anthony Mitchell 1-6. Danville, Henderson 3-89, Will Dunn 3-43, Zach Dawson 1-18, Kruz Warner 1-10.