Danville keeps it close, but Rogers pulls away
Paul Wilson
Special to the Enquirer
The Danville Hawks closed out the 2011 region portion of their schedule with a 41-22 loss to the Rogers Pirates last Friday night in Greenhill.
Hank Thigpen and Austin Kerr scored two touchdowns apiece to lead the Rogers attack.
Each team scored a touchdown on its opening drive. Rogers struck first, going 83 yards in just four plays with Thigpen getting the score on an 11-yard run. Jacob Duncan added the PAT. With 10:42 left in the first period, Rogers led 7-0.
Danville then drove 64 yards in seven plays to tie the game at 7 with senior Caleb Hill running 39 yards for the score. Cody Hudgins added the PAT.
The rest of the first half belonged to Rogers as the Pirates scored three more times to take a 27-7 halftime lead. Tyler Grigsby hit Cody Stephens on a 35-yard pass while Thigpen raced 65 yards for his second touchdown with just 14 seconds left in the first period to give Rogers a 20-7 lead.
Kerr scored the only touchdown of the second period on a 4-yard run. Duncan added the PAT to make it 27-7 in favor of the Pirates.
Just like the first half, each team scored on its opening possession of the third quarter.
Danville drove 65 yards in 12 plays with Hill plunging in from 1 yard out. The Hawks then faked the extra point as Trey Jones dove over the right pylon for the two-point conversion cutting the Rogers lead to 12 (27-15).
Rogers put the game away by scoring on its next two drives to take a 41-15 lead early in the fourth quarter.
The Hawks got the game’s final points midway through the fourth on a 6-yard run by Jones. Noah Hogan added the PAT to make it 41-22.
With the loss Danville falls to 1-8 on the year. The Hawks will end their season Friday night as they host the Falkville Blue Devils. Kickoff is set for 7 p.m. at Smith-Owens Stadium.
