ORANGE CRUSH: Danville forces six Selinsgrove turnovers to claim HAC-I championship

DANVILLE, Pa. – Cale Rice, a Danville senior defensive back, had something he’d been itching to tell any member of the media willing to listen.

It wasn’t something to be confused for a bold statement or guarantee of a District 4 championship. Rather, it was about a nickname for his school’s defensive unit.

“We call ourselves the ‘Orange Crush’ defense – you know – just like the soda,” Rice said. “The whole defense, before every game, we each drink a can of Orange Crush as a team bonding thing.”

Turns out Rice was just a part of a collective Danville defensive effort which opened a can of forcing turnover after turnover against a rising, but youthful, Selinsgrove team.

Rice intercepted his team leading seventh pass and recovered three Seal fumbles as Danville (8-2, 6-0 HAC-I) hassled and pressured Selinsgrove (7-3, 5-1) into six turnovers, including two recoveries of muffed kickoffs to open the second half, to secure the Heartland Athletic Conference Division-I championship with a 24-14 victory Friday night at Ironmen Stadium in Danville.

The Danville victory, coupled with Central Columbia’s 34-12 loss to red-hot Bloomsburg, unofficially gave the Ironmen the No. 1 seed in the upcoming District 4 Class AA tournament. Selinsgrove was already the No. 1 seed in the District 4 Class AAA tournament, so the loss Friday did not affect the Seals’ playoff seeding.

If Rice-A-Roni is indeed the San Francisco treat, then Rice was the orange and purple’s treat this night.

“In our second game, I had four interceptions against Loyalsock,” Rice said. “But this is a lot more special. It was the biggest game of our season. This is the best feeling in the world. The best feeling in the world.”

Selinsgrove, which deferred receiving the kickoff until the second half, never could have figured the move would not see them run their first play of the second half with 4:06 remaining in the third quarter. And yet, that’s what became reality for Dave Hess’ crew as Danville reached back into its special teams playbook for a pooch kickoff.

“That was something a former special teams coach at Danville used to do (the pooch kicks), and we didn’t have the wind at our backs (in the third quarter),” explained Danville head coach James Keiser. “Those were very much by design because we wanted to keep the ball away from Juvon Batts.”

On the initial kickoff, Rice recovered the fumble of a Seal upback at the 40-yard line, and it led to a Danville touchdown – a 5-yard scoring pass from junior Weston Baylor to Zack Kozick. On the ensuing kickoff, the ball landed, rolled a little, but was never covered by a Seals’ player. Rice recovered at the 25 and Shayne Riley booted a short field goal to widen Danville’s margin to 17.

Counting the two kickoffs (uncovered kickoffs by the return team count against a team as a lost fumble), Selinsgrove lost three fumbles in the game.

“The second kickoff was just a mistake (on our part),” Hess said. “It was youth, man. It was youth. We made a lot of goofy mistakes tonight, but I don’t want to take anything away from Danville. They are a very good and well-coached team.”

That didn’t stop the Seals from keeping it a game for much of the first 24 minutes. The Seals ran 35 plays to Danville’s 30 in the first half, and tied the game at 7s in the first quarter on a Batts 14-yard run following a 3-yard punt.

Batts, a freshman, led all rushers for the game with 112 yards on 17 carries. But he had only 38 of those yards in the second half – 21 of which came in the final two plays of the game before Danville’s celebration began.

“He’s only a freshman and he’s going to get better,” Keiser said.

“We knew he (Batts) was fast and that we had to shut him down, but I had full faith in my defense the whole game,” Rice said. “I feel we’re the best defense in the state.”

Junior Sam Dressler got the scoring started for Danville with a 20-yard run, capping a quick 1:22 drive to open the game. Dressler’s run was set up by a Baylor to Bret Berg connection of 46 yards on the drive’s first play. Dressler then scored on a 4-yard run early in the second quarter.

Rapp capped the game scoring when he found Hunter Kantz for a 6-yard pass-and-catch in the fourth quarter. Rapp finished with 82 yards passing on a 7-of-17 night, but was intercepted not only by Rice, but also Kozick and linebacker Eric Haney, the team’s leading tackler and a junior linebacker.

At the onset of the season, Danville wasn’t among the short list of teams mentioned to contend for the HAC-I conference crown. “You know, it’s funny,” Keiser noted. “We weren’t in the preseason discussion (for the conference) and it got our kids pretty fired up.”

“That’s just how we like it,” Rice said of the lack of preseason mention.

And before the night was done, Rice threw out another number.

“Here’s a stat for you – 107 – we’ve allowed 107 points in 10 games. That’s pretty good,” Rice said.

You’d think Rice might have a future as an accountant. For the firm “Orange Crush, LLC.”

NOTES: Danville’s HAC-I championship is the program’s second in the last three seasons under Keiser, who took over the program in 2009. Danville is 35-10 overall since then……Riley’s 18-yard field goal in the third quarter was his seventh of the season……Batts’ 112 yards moved his season rushing total to a team-leading 544 yards with six touchdowns on 91 carries……Selinsgrove’s marching band received a standing ovation from the Danville crowd for its energetic and entertaining halftime show……Keiser was limping postgame after injuring his calf when he jumped in celebration in the first quarter and landed awkwardly. “That’s what’s bad about getting old,” Keiser said afterward……Baylor, who assumed the reins of Danville’s wing-T offense following three-year starter and 3,700-yard passer Andrew Andreychik, bumped his season passing totals to 1,118 yards with 13 touchdowns following Friday’s game…..Of Danville’s 43-man roster, 38 are underclassmen; 48 of Selinsgrove’s 64-man roster are underclassmen.

Selinsgrove 7 0 0 7 – 14
Danville 7 710 0 – 24

Scoring
1st Qtr
D – Sam Dressler 20 run (Shayne Riley kick)
S – Juvon Batts 14 run (Kaelen Sullivan kick)
2nd Qtr
D – Dressler 4 run (Riley kick)
3rd Qtr
D – Zack Kozick 5 pass from Weston Baylor (Riley kick)
D – FG, Riley 18
4th Qtr
S – Hunter Kantz 6 pass from Isaiah Rapp (Sullivan kick)

SEL DAN
Rushes-yds 36-167 41-115
Passing 7-17-3 11-18-0
Pass yds 82 158
Total offense 249 273
1st downs 16 14
Penalties 8-57 7-50
Turnovers 6 1

Individual statistics:
RUSHING: SEL: Juvon Batts 17-112 TD; Zach Adams 8-35; Mike Walters 8-25; Isaiah Rapp 2-2; TEAM 1-minus-7. DAN: Sam Dressler 20-79 2 TD; Weston Baylor 12-29; Zack Kozick 3-13; Tom Brouse 1-2; Isaiah Croll 5-minus-8.

PASSING: SEL: Rapp 7-17-3-82 TD. DAN: Baylor 11-18-0-182 TD.

RECEIVING: SEL: Walter Jacobs 3-42; Hunter Kantz 2-24 TD; Logan Benner 1-13; Dylan Beaver 1-3. DAN: Bret Berg 5-96; Kozick 3-41 TD; Brouse 1-10; Croll 1-8; Cale Rice 1-3.