WATERFORD — The Danville Blue Devils are on what gamblers call a heater.
Coach Matt Blum’s squad won its third straight game as a road underdog on Friday night by traveling nearly two hours south to defeat second-seeded Waterford 19-14 in a Division VII, Region 27 semifinal.
The 11th-seeded Blue Devils (8-5) will advance to the regional championship game to meet top-seeded Hillsdale next Friday.
The Falcons (12-1) hammered Symmes Valley 48-7 on Friday night. Last year, Hillsdale stopped Danville 25-22 in a thrilling state semifinal contest.
Did Waterford (9-3) have a home-field advantage as the Devils played on natural turf for the first time in the playoffs?
“Oh no, we’ll play in the parking lot, we’ll play in the Walmart parking lot,” Blum said while standing on a field a bit worse for the wear.
The game was contested in a stadium behind the Waterford Elementary school. With nearly 10 percent of its enrollment of 177 students taking the field with the football team, Waterford is a member of the Tri-Valley Conference.
The only blemishes for the Wildcats before Danville arrived came in back-to-back weeks when they were blanked 28-0 by Fort Frye (9-1) and then lost a heart stopper to Nelsonville-York (11-0) 29-28.
Danville entered the bout on the heels of two incredible offensive displays, outscoring Steubenville Catholic Central 54-0 before drubbing Lancaster Fisher Catholic 59-8.
From the outset, it was obvious this game was going to hinge on which defense had the better night.
With 8:40 remaining in the first half, the Wildcats went for it on fourth down and Danville’s Aidan Mickley picked off an errant pass. But the Devils were unable to capitalize on the turnover. With 2:57 remaining in the half, Danville coughed up a fumble, which Waterford turned into a touchdown to carry a 7-0 lead into the locker room at the half.
With 8:50 remaining in the third period, Danville’s Nolan Ridgeway carried the pigskin to paydirt, but a two-point conversion attempt fell short, and Waterford owned a 7-6 edge. The visitors were able to score another touchdown, again failing at a two-point try but taking 12-7 margin to the final 12 minutes.
It was a lead they would never relinquish.
“We weren’t making enough plays during the regular season and now we’re starting to make those plays,” Blum said.
One of the most critical plays of the game came on a fourth-down punt the Waterford center snapped the ball over the head of the quarterback, which he recoverd just shy of the endzone.
The Devils took over on downs, and one play later, Ridgeway plowed his way into the end zone to give Danville a 19-7 lead.
It took Waterford only five plays and exactly one minute to march down the field and score what would be their final tally of the evening.
After Danville failed to move the ball on the next possession, with 1:19 showing on the clock, Ridgeway punted and Waterford had one last gasp. The capacity crowd on the visitors’ side knew that on their previous possession, the Wildcats took just 60 seconds to score.
But Danville’s Wesley Payne dashed all hopes for the home team when he picked off a Wildcat pass to seal the victory.
(Photos by Dan Werner)
