“I believe we’re defined by how we handle adversity,” Patrick said. “I mean, we just did that. It didn’t go our way in the first half. We weren’t playing our game, but in the locker room, I just told everybody we’re a team. Everybody has to do a job for us to be good.”
Danville (3-0) struggled in the first half against a pesky Montoursville defense that put pressure on Patrick. An intentional grounding call, followed by an interception, resulted in Patrick being taken out of the game for what appeared to be non-injury reasons. Cole Duffy took over at quarterback for four series, and the Ironmen scored on a Bo Sheptock 13-yard run to take a 9-6 lead, but also gave up a safety after a running play was blown up in the end zone.
On the first possession of the second half, Danville had a drive kept alive on what looked to be a phantom late hit call. On fourth-and-goal, Sheptock crossed the goal line from two yards out to give the Ironmen a 16-8 lead with 9:09 left in the third quarter. Sheptock finished with 165 yards and three touchdowns on 23 carries. In addition to a 300-yard passer and 100-yard rusher, the Ironmen also had a 200-yard receiver in Duffy who hauled in seven balls from Patrick.
“We’re loaded with playmakers,” Patrick said. “We’re dangerous. We’ve gotta continue to get healthy, dive deep in the film, and just continue to do little things.”
Montoursville (2-1) counterpunched on two different occasions to keep things very interesting through three quarters. Jimmy Mussina threw his second touchdown pass of the night, this one to Owen Kleinman from 17 yards out that closed the gap to 16-14. After Patrick connected with Duffy on the first of his two scores, once again the Warriors answered. Christian Banks hit paydirt with a 28-yard touchdown run that pulled his team to within 23-20 entering the fourth quarter.
“We have a lot to prove this season,” Montoursville coach Joe Hanna said. “We have a lot of kids that are just (first-time) starters or are in a new role, so I’m really happy with the effort. We’ve just got to clean some things up.”
In the fourth quarter, the big plays really started to pile up for Danville. Patrick hit Duffy on a 39-yard pass to put the Ironmen in the red zone, and on a 2nd-and-15 play, he delivered a strike to Landon Kehoe for a 24-yard touchdown. On the last two drives, Duffy finished off his big night in style thanks to a 76-yard touchdown reception to overcome a 3rd-and-15 situation, and Sheptock also went out with a bang by making a house call from 69 yards out to complete the scoring.
“Just playing Ironmen football, and it came down to that,” Patrick said. “I mean, we can run the ball and we can throw that ball around, but I believe the game needs to be won up front, and the linemen did just that. I challenged them at halftime, and they came out, they completed it, and handled that challenge very well.”
The score was not necessarily indicative of how competitively the game was played. Trailing 30-20, Montoursville had a 50-yard touchdown pass called back by a holding penalty. Despite having Danville backed up several times in the second half, the Warriors were unable to get a stop when they needed it. Four of the five scoring drives were 69 yards or longer.
“They have some athletes that are going to make some plays,” Hanna said. “I just told them, I’m disappointed, because I think we left some plays on the field, some things we need to clean up, but I can’t fault the effort. It’s just Week 3, we’re getting there.”
Montoursville 6 2 12 0-20
Danville 3 6 14 21-44
Individual Scoring
First Quarter
D-Garrett Hoffman 27 field goal 9:03
M-Todd Crawford 21 pass from Jimmy Mussina (kick failed) 2:41
Second Quarter
D-Bo Sheptock 13 run (kick blocked) 6:47
M-Team Safety 2:26
Third Quarter
D-Sheptock 2 run (Hoffman kick) 9:09
M-Owen Kleinman 17 pass from Mussina (run failed) 6:27
D-Cole Duffy 27 pass from Madden Patrick (Hoffman kick) 2:51
M-Christian Banks 28 run (kick blocked) 1:52
Fourth Quarter
D-Landon Kehoe 24 pass from Patrick (Hoffman kick) 11:13
D-Duffy 76 pass from Patrick (Hoffman kick) 6:37
D-Sheptock 69 run (Hoffman kick) 2:26
Team Statistics
…………………………..M……………..D
1st downs…………….19……………20
rush-yds…………35-153………..32-137
comp-att-int……9-23-0………14-25-1
pass yds…………….100………….311
total yds……………253…………..448
fumb-lost………….2-1………………3-0
pen-yds…………..6-79…………….10-92
Individual Statistics
Rushing-Montoursville: Hayden Harvey 14-84; Christian Banks 8-54, TD; Alex Felver 8-30; Noah Kemmerer 1-4; Chase Jones 1-(-1); Jimmy Mussina 3-(-18). Danville: Bo Sheptock 23-165, 3 TDs; Cole Duffy 4-8; Madden Patrick 2-(-7); Cameron Kiersch 1-(-8); Team 2-(-21).
Passing-Montoursville: Mussina 9-23-0, 100 yds., 2 TDs. Danville: Patrick 14-25-1, 311 yds., 3 TDs.
Receiving-Montoursville: Todd Crawford 2-30, TD; Owen Kleinman 2-27, TD; James Williams 1-27; Kane Moore 1-5; Michael Reeder 1-5; Brayden Burkett 1-3; Jacob Schon 1-3. Danville: Duffy 7-228, 2 TDs; Kiersch 5-62; Kehoe 2-21, TD.
