MILTON – As it seeks its fifth consecutive District 4 Class 3A championship this year, Danville’s schedule ramps up a bit in the second half of the season, with games against Southern Columbia, Mount Carmel and Selinsgrove dotting the next five weeks.
So, it was important for the Ironmen to not only not look ahead as it took on 2-2 Milton on Friday, but also take care of the business at hand.
And while head coach Carl Majer will still have some things to work on with his team next week as they get ready to host Southern Columbia next Friday, the Ironmen largely did take care of their business as they recorded their first shutout of the season with a 49-0 win over the Black Panthers to improve to 5-0 at the halfway point of the regular season.
“The defense got after the ball and we played a fast and swarming defense and it showed tonight,” said Majer. “I think we were a little sloppy in the beginning and put it on cruise control a little. Madden missed some passes, some uncharacteristic things, but overall, we need to fine tune these little things. We have Southern Columbia coming into our stadium next week so we have a lot to prove.”
Danville held Milton to just 105 yards of offense and only four first downs. The Black Panthers, who were already playing down six starters on both sides of the ball due to injuries and other circumstances, also lost starting quarterback Chase Lytle early in the second quarter with a foot injury, further complicating their offense.
“We were already fighting an uphill battle because they’re a powerhouse but then add in losing six starters on both sides of the ball, starting some freshmen that really didn’t get any playing time before tonight, and it’s a tall mountain to tackle and we did the best that we could,” said Milton coach Matthew Wilson. “But it’s teaching us adversity early on.
While Danville’s defense recorded the shutout, offensively, it was all about Bo Sheptock and Madden Patrick for most of the night. Sheptock ran for 142 yards and scored four touchdowns, while Patrick completed 11-of-23 passes for 214 yards and three touchdowns. The three touchdown passes gave Patrick 82 for his career, surpassing the previous record held by K.J. Riley (2017-20).
Patrick broke the record early in the second quarter as he was responsible for Danville’s first three touchdowns. The Ironmen stopped Milton three-and-out after the opening kickoff, then took over at their own 27 following a 50-yard punt for the Black Panthers. Patrick engineered a 10-play, 73-yard drive capped with a three-yard strike to Cole Duffy in the end zone.
Danville’s defense stopped Milton on downs at the Ironmen 36 on the Black Panthers’ next drive, and the Ironmen quickly flipped the field as Sheptock gained 25 yards on a run, and four plays later, Patrick hit Landon Kehoe for a 19-yard touchdown to put the Ironmen up 14-0.
The Ironmen took over at their own 36 after forcing another Milton punt, and after a 64-yard touchdown pass to Duffy was called back due to an ineligible man downfield penalty, Sheptock hauled in a short pass from Patrick, shed a few would-be tacklers and turned it into a 69-yard touchdown reception to extend the Danville lead to 21-0.
After another Milton three-and-out, Sheptock made it another brief Danville drive as he burst loose for a 59-yard touchdown run to make it 28-0 at the 8:32 mark of the second quarter.
Sheptock then set up a more lengthy Ironmen possession with a 34-yard punt return, and the Ironmen then put together a 12-play, 58-yard drive capped by Sheptock’s four-yard touchdown run to make it 35-0 heading into halftime.
“They run a fluid offense, and the only time you can get them out of sync is when they throw an incompletion,” said Wilson. “Most teams strive to be like that, where their offense is so fluid, it’s like clockwork. Our goal is to have an offense like that, and establish that right away, but we need everyone involved in that so hopefully we have everyone healthy at some point this season, but we don’t quit, and that’s my message to our kids.
“We had a tough game last week and came back and won (against South Williamsport), and I told them we’ve moved the ball against some of the better teams like Montoursville and we had the ball three times deep in Southern Columbia’s territory and turned the ball over each time. We know we can move the ball against teams but we just have to stop shooting ourselves in the foot. Being down six starters, though, will hurt any team.”
Duffy opened the second half with an 89-yard kickoff return for touchdown, and then Sheptock capped the scoring with his fourth touchdown, a three-yard run, later in the third quarter.
“We have to get ready to play some hard-nosed football for four quarters, which is why I left the starters in for the third quarter tonight,” said Majer. “We’ll hopefully have Carter Raup, Chase Miller and maybe even Lincoln Diehl back next week, so that’d be phenomenal.”
Danville 49, Milton 0
Danville (5-0) 14 21 14 0 – 0
Milton (2-3) 0 0 0 0 – 0
First quarter
7:22 – (D) Cole Duffy 3-yard pass from Madden Patrick (Hoffman kick), 10-73, 2:54
3:16 – (D) Landon Kehoe 19-yard pass from Madden Patrick (Hoffman kick), 5-64, 1:22
Second quarter
11:10 – (D) Bo Sheptock 69-yard pass from Madden Patrick (Hoffman kick), 2-64, :41
8:32 – (D) Bo Sheptock 59-yard run (Hoffman kick), 3-75, :32
2:34 – (D) Bo Sheptock 4-yard run (Tomko kick), 12-42, 4:10
Third quarter
11:42 – (D) Cole Duffy 89-yard kickoff return (Hoffman kick)
5:27 – (D) Bo Sheptock 3-yard run (Tomko kick), 4-45, 3:13
Statistics
D M
First downs 20 4
Rushes-net yards 21-203 29-57
Passing yardage 214 48
Passing 11-26-3-0 4-10-0-0
Fumbles-lost 1-1 0-0
Penalties-yards 4-25 4-41
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING: Danville: Bo Sheptock (12-142-3), Jack Rarig (5-32), Madden Patrick (4-29); Milton: Jaeden Canelo (20-48), Montgomery Fisher (5-9), Chase Lytle (3-(-2)), Dominic Lytle (1-2)
PASSING: Danville: Madden Patrick (11-23-214-3-0), Benjamin Koser (0-3-0-0-0); Milton: Chase Lytle (3-4-45-0-0), Izayah Minium (1-6-3-0-0)
RECEIVING: Danville: Cole Duffy (6-53-1), Landon Kehoe (3-72-1), Bo Sheptock (2-89-1); Milton: Montgomery Fisher (3-45), Jaeden Canelo (1-3)
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