Ironmen rebound, beat Jays

SOUTH CENTRE TWP. — Danville had one mission Friday night: quickly move on from its Week 2 loss to Shamokin.

It not only scored fast, getting a pick-six from Jagger Simpson three Central Columbia offensive snaps into the game to help erase that memory, but they played in a hurry-up offense for much of the night, putting up five offensive touchdowns.

For good measure, the Ironmen added a special teams touchdown and safety to defeat the Blue Jays, 52-3, and rapidly get things back to where they’d like.

Much of the early momentum came from the play of quarterback Macon Patrick, who had both a rushing and passing touchdown at halftime.

Patrick began the night with a pair of incompletions, including one over a wide-open Kayvion Seabrook in the end zone. No worries, though, as on the ensuing snap, Patrick hit a well-defended Myles Koser with an over-the-shoulder pass for a 44-yard touchdown.

The freshman was just getting started. On Danville’s ensuing possession, he turned to his legs, first taking off for 20 yards after a great fake handoff to Seabrook, taking off down the right sideline. He capped the drive off with an 8-yard keeper.

Even when Danville got a bad bounce, like it did on the point-after attempt, good things happened as holder Braxtyn Girardi ran it in for two points.

Girardi took off for the Ironmen in the second half, leading the team with 95 yards rushing on only five carries. His longest run of the night was a 40-yard touchdown in the third quarter.

The Ironmen needed that, too, with Patrick getting injured late in the first half.

“That’s the plan for us. We feel like we have a lot of skill guys that we can get the ball into their hands and do things,” Danville coach Shawn Sheptock said. “We want to spread the wealth, and by doing that, we’re developing depth in all those positions, which is ultimately our goal.”

Mission accomplished as eight different players got a carry — seven with positive yardage. Ben Nye led the squad with 11 carries, taking a pair of those to the house. He capped the first-half scoring with a 5-yard rush and put the game in mercy rule to start the second half with an 18-yard carry.

If there is one positive for the Blue Jays, it’s that they again forced multiple turnovers for the second straight week.

Adrian Santana intercepted Patrick for a touchback late in the first half, and the Blue Jays forced five fumbles, recovering one of them.

“It’s always cool to see someone like Adrian Santana get the first interception of their career,” Central coach Ky Seesholtz said. “It’s also nice to force a few fumbles, but the biggest this is if you don’t take that momentum and build on it, it really does nothing. We have to build upon them.

“But it is great to see our defense playing like it is.”

The Blue Jays, which took their first offensive snap in Danville territory when trailing 22-0, fumbled the ball out the back of the end zone on a punt attempt midway through the second quarter for a safety.

Central’s special team woes lingered all night, fumbling the ball away on its first of five punt attempts and setting the Ironmen up for their first offensive touchdown. They also gave up a 71-yard punt return to Seabrook for the Ironmen’s final score of the night. Seabrook broke an early tackle, broke down the left sideline, eventually making his way down the middle of the field.

“We preach every phase of this game is equally important,” Sheptock said. “I thought we could have some success on special teams tonight, and I think our return guys are very dangerous when they touch the ball.”

The Blue Jays’ special teams had the last say, though, knocking back a 34-yard field goal for the fourth quarter’s lone points.

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