Danville fumbles away chance

DANVILLE — Danville can’t help but feel it fumbled away Friday night’s game — literally.
Despite coughing up the ball three times on their first seven offensive snaps and facing an early two possession deficit, the Ironmen were in the thick of things until Selinsgrove forced turnovers on consecutive snaps and scored a pair of touchdowns within a minute to open the fourth quarter.

The defense, which also forced a pair of Selinsgrove fumbles and recovered one on the Seals’ first two offensive snaps, was playing with a short field for much of the night, and it showed in a 38-22 loss, extending Danville’s losing streak to four.

Coach Shawn Sheptock wasn’t blaming any outside conditions on the miscues that came back to haunt the Ironmen.

“It was just a matter of execution. We just had dropped balls and they made plays and scooped them up,” the first-year coach said. “There was no slippery field, no slippery ball or weather conditions that impacted us.”

Following a 17-play, 79-yard touchdown drive where the Seals converted twice on fourth down and drained nearly eight minutes off the clock, the Ironmen stuck with the hot hand of Macon Patrick.

The freshman played his first game since suffering an injury against Central Columbia in Week 3. Aside from a spike, he completed five straight passes to get the Ironmen in field goal range, where Liam Tomko missed a 35-yard attempt wide left.

This time there would be no points unscored as Patrick hit Braxtyn Girardi in stride with an over-the-shoulder pass for 32 yards to close the deficit to 19-14.

That was all the closer Danville got as it fumbled for the sixth time on its ensuing possession, losing its fourth. The Seals capitalized by having Rocco Amato find Jonathan Neidig for their third touchdown of the game, a 39-yard strike on an out route.

The play was their signature call all night as the duo connected nine times for 91 yards and three touchdowns. Amato finished 11-for-19, throwing an interception to Jagger Simpson in the second quarter.

Amato also had a pair of rushing touchdowns for the Seals, who failed on a pair of two-point conversions and had a pair of kicks blocked.

“We had some good calls, but we just didn’t cover people responsibly. We made some bad reads and lied to scores,” Sheptock said. “So we got to win third down. We got to win fourth down.”

On Danville’s ensuing offensive play, Patrick thought he had a wide-open Kayvion Seabrook only for Andrew Gesumaria to come out of nowhere for a nice one-handed interception.

Selinsgrove officially ran away with the game when Cael Badman took it to the house two plays later for a 28-yard touchdown.

The Ironmen didn’t roll over, though. Coming off a pair of 15-yard penalties by Selinsgrove, which was penalized 10 times for 85 yards, and being awarded nice field position on the kickoff, Patrick took advantage. The hurler connected with Mason Kingery for a 23-yard score and ran it for the two-point conversion.

Patrick finished 12 of 21 for 164 yards and two touchdowns. He also led the Ironmen with 54 yards rushing and a touchdown to account for all of Danville’s scoring.

“It’s wonderful having Macon back. He’s the spark to our team and again he’s a young guy that’s still developing,” Sheptock said. “... He has a lot of tools. I think the program will continue to grow with a guy like Macon leading us.”

That’s the kind of talent Danville can’t let slip away.

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