New era dawns for Danville
DANVILLE — The post Jim Keiser era got off on the right foot — or rather arm — Friday night, days after the 11-year head coach resigned from the position at Danville.
The Ironmen were focused and blocked out the noise, flashing off what could be in store for not only weeks to come, but maybe years, as junior quarterback K.J. Riley had a special bond with freshman receiver Carson Persing in a 35-19 win over Mifflinburg.
The duo combined for 182 yards and four touchdowns on seven connections.
The reaction from Persing says it all.
“I can’t really (put it into words) actually,” he said wide-eyed. “I caught the ball, made a couple people miss and score some touchdowns.”
He made it look just as easy as his explanation.
The first score of the game came from the duo when Persing caught the ball on a flat from 11 yards out early in the second quarter.
Then, with just under two minutes remaining in the first half, Persing ran a hook and ladder. He got the necessary space and made the Wildcats pay on a 49-yard touchdown.
And if that wasn’t enough, the duo saw something at the line of scrimmage and drew up something eerily similar to the second touchdown — this time for a 48-yard scoring play to jump start the second half.
“(Persing) is a breakaway kind of kid. I just can’t say enough about the chemistry between those two right now, Danville coach Brian Raup said. “The one touchdown he had, that was a look they gave each other. That was on its own, that was not the play call in the huddle. It was a great adjustment, but I can’t say enough about him.”
The final scoring play for the duo — and the Ironmen — occurred in the fourth quarter when Riley rolled to his right and saw Persing with enough room in the right corner of the end zone to put the game on ice.
“We have a special connection,” Riley said. “I feel like it transferred from his brother (Peyton) to him.”
All told, Riley completed 16 of 19 pass attempts for 264 yards. He gained another 42 yards via his legs.
The duo was special to watch, but the one telling stat that tells the coaching staff the players are moving forward was their ability to move the chains on third down. The Ironmen started a perfect 9-for-9 and were only stopped when Danville was getting backup players touches and draining the clock.
“That’s insane,” Raup said.
He and Riley are in agreement it was good play calling and execution by working with what they have.
“That’s the definition of focus right there,” Raup said. “I told these guys, everything we’ve been through, put it behind us. Use that energy, focus it on the field. And again, I told the kids I can’t say enough about their effort right now.”
Jagger Dressler was responsible for the Ironmen’s fifth touchdown of the contest, running it in from seven yards out.
Not to be outdone, the defense also had a strong game for Danville, forcing three turnovers — one fumble and two interceptions — with Colton Sidler putting his name on two of them.
Sidler recovered a fumble on the Wildcats’ first snap of the second half before intercepting Gary DeGroat on the Wildcats’ final play of the frame.
Danville held DeGroat in check all game long as he was just 3 of 11 for 19 yards and the Wildcats couldn’t sustain drives.
Raup knew that success would in turn force the Wildcats to turn to the run game where Mason Breed was tough all game, collecting 118 yards. But that also meant time wasn’t on Mifflinburg’s side.
“We knew (Breed) was going to get his yards,” he said. “He’s a tough kid. You take nothing away from that kid. So we knew if they were going to do that, they were going to grind the clock. That’s exactly what they did. They took a long time to get those touchdowns on those three drives, drained the clock and we hit them with a couple of big plays, and put them right where we wanted to.”
All three of the Wildcats’ touchdowns were on runs of 5 yards or less.
Mifflinburg 0 7 6 6 — 19
Danville 0 14 14 7 — 35
Second quarter
D — Carson Persing 11 pass from K.J. Riley (Riley kick), 9:58
M — Ethan Hoy 2 run (Gabe Stetler kick), 4:04
D — Persing 49 pass from Riley (Riley kick), 1:59
Third quarter
D — Persing 48 pass from Riley (Riley kick), 10:28
D — Jagger Dressler 7 run (Riley kick), 6:51
M — Gary DeGroat, Jr. 5 run (Stetler kick), 3:49
Fourth quarter
D — Persing 19 pass from Riley (Riley kick), 8:52
M — Rylee Stahl 4 run (pass incomplete), 0:59.4
M D
First downs 13 18
Rushing-yds. 37-168 39-185
Passing 3-11-2 16-19-0
Passing yds. 19 264
Total yds. 187 449
Fumbles-lost 1-1 3-2
Penalties-yds. 3-15 6-59
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING — Mifflinburg: Mason Breed, 19-118; Gary DeGroat, Jr., 7-20; Rylee Stahl, 4-20, TD; Jacob Reitz, 2-9; Ethan Hoy, 2-4, TD; Andrew Diehl, 3-(-3). Danville: Jagger Dressler, 9-76, TD; Joey Harris, 13-69; K.J. Riley, 8-42; Ty Stauffer, 2-6; Ian Persing, 3-5; Team 2-(-4); Jack Smiley, 2-(-9).
PASSING — Mifflinburg: DeGroat, 3-11-2, 19 yds. Danville: Riley, 16-19-0, 264 yds., 4 TDs.
RECEIVING — Mifflinburg: Stahl, 2-12; Breed, 1-7. Danville: C. Persing, 7-182, 4 TDs; I. Persing, 3-37; Dressler, 3-15; Harris, 2-21; Colton Sidler, 1-9.
Link to story:
https://www.pressenterpriseonline.com/daily/091419/page/13/story/new-era-dawns-for-danville
