Danville comes from behind in win

By Staff
Paul Wilson, Enquirer Correspondent
It was a scene all too familiar to Danville fans. Midway through the third quarter, Hawks are trailing but have the football deep in the opponent's territory. A touchdown would give Danville a chance to not only seize the momentum but, more importantly, tie the game.
But this time Danville fans were not disappointed because unlike the previous two weeks where the Hawks were unable to put the ball into the end zone, Danville's John Dalton, behind great blocking from the offensive line, ran untouched into the end zone for the touchdown. The two-point conversion failed but Danville had cut the Hanceville lead to 16-14 with 5:10 left in the third quarter.
"That was a big drive for us," Coach Burch said. "At halftime we challenged the kids to start making some plays. We felt like we could use our power running game and it worked in the second half."
It did more than work as that drive would set the stage for a dominating performance by the Danville Hawks as they celebrated homecoming with a 32-16 victory over the Bulldogs of Hanceville.
When asked about homecoming Coach Burch responded, "I have to give our kids credit for keeping their focus this week during homecoming. We let them get involved in some of the things that go on during homecoming week, but we kept reminding them that we needed a win on Friday and they did not let us down."
The game did not start out like it would be a happy homecoming for the Hawks. Hanceville scored first, following an exchange of punts, on a 63-yard pass from Tyler Calvert to Tristan Purifoy. Purifoy and Danville senior defensive back Tyree Murphy went up for the ball but Purifoy came down with it and raced some 40 yards for the score. Hanceville's two-point conversion was good and with 4:28 left in the opening period, Hanceville led 8-0.
"I thought Tyree had the play defended pretty well, their kid just made a great catch," Coach Burch said.
Neither team scored again until the Hawks got on the board midway through the second quarter. Danville got great field position following freshman linebacker Craig Orr's recovery of a Bulldog fumble. The Danville offense drove 50 yards in seven plays with John Dalton getting the touchdown on a 1-yard run. The touchdown was one of three on the night for Dalton. Dalton's pass to senior wide receiver Corey Gilmore was good and the game was tied at 8 with 6:42 left in the half.
Hanceville would get the final score of the half on a 35-yard pass from Calvert to Jeff Watts. Cory Flanigan ran in the 2-point conversion and Hanceville went into the locker room leading 16-8.
Regarding his halftime talk to the team Coach Burch said, "We really challenged our kids at the half. We felt like it was time for our players to start making plays and quit waiting for someone else to take charge."
The second half was all Danville. Three plays after Dalton's second 1-yard touchdown of the evening, Murphy brought the Hawk crowd to its feet as he raced 40 yards for a Danville touchdown after picking off a Calvert pass on third-and-long. Senior quarterback Casey Wilson completed the two-point pass to Murphy and with 3:12 left in the third, Danville had its first lead of the night at 22-16.
"Tyree's interception was big for us. After his touchdown, you could tell that the momentum was on our side," said Burch.
Two plays later the Danville defense forced another turnover, recovering a Hanceville fumble at the Bulldog 30. The Hawk offense was unable to get a touchdown but Dalton did kick a 32-yard field goal early in the final period to give Danville a 25-16 lead.
When asked about Dalton, Coach Burch said, "We ask a lot of John. He's a running back, linebacker, punter/kicker. John's a good athlete and he always gives it everything he has."
After the field goal, Hanceville drove down to the Danville 34 before turning the ball over on downs at the Hawk 39. Danville then began its final scoring drive going 61 yards in nine plays (all runs) with Dalton getting his third touchdown on a 10-yard run. For the game, Dalton had 138 yards on 26 carries. Dalton kicked the extra point and with 1:01 left the Hawks led 32-16.
Danville's defense turned in its best performance of the year in the second half. The Hawks held Hanceville to just 15 yards total offense in the third and fourth quarters after allowing 200 yards in the opening half.
"After the game I wanted to let both the offensive and defensive lines know what a great job they did tonight," Burch said. "A lot of the time the line does not get any credit.."
With the win Danville moves to 2-3 in Class 3A Region 7 and 3-4 overall. Most importantly though, the Hawks keep their playoff hopes alive. Commenting on the playoffs Coach Burch stated, "We aren't going to concern ourselves with what all has to happen for us to make the playoffs. All we want to do is win the next one and the playoffs will take care of itself."
Danville will take to the road once again as the Hawks travel to Walker County to take on region foe Carbon Hill. Game time is set for 7 p.m.