Light show: Danville bolts past Bloom
BLOOMSBURG — The only thing that could stop Danville for a certain time was the region’s thunderstorms Friday night, but even they eventually moved out of the way to enjoy the show.
The Ironmen were dominant in all three phases of the game, posting a 58-0 win over Bloomsburg to start the season.
Running back Ty Brown-Stauffer set the tempo early and never took his foot off the pedal. He got the game’s scoring started with a 38-yard touchdown, accounting for 68 yards on three carries on Danville’s 80-yard opening drive.
Coming out of a nearly 90-minute weather delay midway through the second quarter, Stauffer provided lightning of his own with a 26-yard scamper. He ended the drive by hurdling a Panther defender for his second touchdown of the evening.
“We got the pads off of them and tried to keep them as cool and hydrated as possible,” Brennan said of the delay. “We wanted to keep their minds dialed in and that’s exactly what they did.”
Bloomsburg coach Mike Kogut knew that coming up with a defensive scheme against a good, proven Danville offense was no easy task.
“Do you go two safety or one safety? If you go two safety, they’re so good they can run the ball and if you go one high safety, they can stretch the field. So, game planning for them is so hard.”
The Ironmen showed that with three passing touchdowns as well. Two of them — both from Zach Gordon — went to Carson Persing. The wideout showed off his speed on the second score with a comeback route and finished with a 17-yard sprinting score. Gordon finished with 56 passing yards with 26 of those going to Persing.
Brennan, having the confidence in both Gordon and Madden Patrick was in good hands either way.
Patrick, on the run, connected with wide-open Aaron Johnson for a 44-yard touchdown to open the second quarter’s scoring for his only pass completion.
Johnson later showed his versatility for the Ironmen with a 35-yard touchdown run in the third quarter, finishing with 105 all-purpose yards.
With everything going Danville’s way — finishing with 326 total yards, all in Bloomsburg territory — Brennan gives credit to the athlete’s mantra of not shying away from the team’s recent success.
“They’ve worked and put the time in,” Brennan said. “They played a great game, but they know that we have to rest and get back to the weight room and practice field and get our minds right because we have another game next week.”
The defense also had a great night for the Ironmen. The pressure up front came away with four sacks of Liam Zentner, playing for the first time since a gruesome knee injury in Week 5 last season. None was bigger than Cameron Kiersch’s safety for a 30-0 lead in the second.
Not letting up on the pressure, the Ironmen got a pick-six from Gordon, taking it 30 yards in the third quarter.
“I just wanted to get our running game going tonight, especially with four new offensive linemen — I was trying to get them some confidence,” Kogut said. “With Madden Locke and Blake Zeisloft, I was trying to get some things done, but unfortunately, they were able to control the game.”
The Ironmen’s biggest run-stopping play came via a Mason Raup 18-yard fumble return for a touchdown on an end-around pitch attempt.
“Defense was definitely a point of emphasis [coming into the season]. The kids worked hard at it and it’s good to see us get the things we wanted to see done,” Brennan said. “We got a lot of kids on the field and it was certainly a good open night win.”
The Panthers were held to just 58 total yards. They averaged just over a yard per carry.
Despite being on the wrong end of a blowout loss, Kogut knows the Panthers aren’t going to hang their heads
“The biggest thing that I always preach is effort. We’re going to make mistakes, especially as a young, inexperienced team, but if we have effort, I’m OK with that,” Kogut said. “If we have effort, we’ll be alright. We played the No. 4 team in Triple-A and I think our kids fought and were physical a lot of the time. It’s the journey and I know the kids are up for the challenge.”
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