DANVILLE — Danville hadn’t played a school its size all year until Friday night.
The Blue Devils were the only Division VII program in the Knox-Morrow Athletic Conference this season (the league had two Division V teams and five Division VI teams). And their non-conference schedule consisted of two Division VI schools (Worthington Christian and Bucyrus) and Division V North Union.
They spent the entire regular season battling teams from bigger schools – including seven that qualified for the playoffs in their respective divisions.
It showed in the first round of the Division VII playoffs Friday night.
Danville (9-2), seeded third in Region 25, dominated 14-seed Windham (4-6) on all fronts. The Blue Devils led 22-0 after one quarter and 41-0 at halftime before finishing as 41-18 victors on their home field.
They sat many of their starters the entire second half.
“That says something,” Danville head coach Matthew Blum said of Friday’s result. “And it says something about the way we were playing our out-of-conference schedule and just the (strength of the) KMAC.”
The Blue Devils will host sixth-seeded Hillsdale (7-4) in the regional quarterfinals next Friday night. The Falcons, hailing from the Wayne County Athletic League, blitzed 11-seed Conotton Valley (6-5), 62-24, in the opening round.
Danville is Knox County’s last team left standing, with Centerburg and Fredericktown both falling Friday in the first round of the Division V playoffs.
“Our program goals are to beat East Knox, we achieved that; make the playoffs, we achieve that; and win a playoff game, we achieved that,” said Blum, in his first year as Danville’s head play-caller.
“We’ve crossed a lot of those things off and that’s something to be proud of as a program, especially for the first year of me being here. I’m obviously really happy about that.”
The Blue Devils beat Windham with their typical mix of explosive offense and physical defense.
Junior quarterback Walker Weckesser found his favorite target, senior wide receiver Kaiden Colopy, seven times in the first half. Four of those receptions went for touchdowns.
The first two came on screen passes, which Colopy took and ran in from 19 and 23 yards out, respectively. The next two came on end-zone slants, with Weckesser hitting Colopy over the middle for 1- and 10-yard scoring strikes.
Ryan Lucas also got into the mix for Danville. The senior tailback, normally a secondary option behind fellow senior Max Payne, served as Danville’s primary ball carrier Friday night, and he made the most of the opportunity.
Lucas ran the ball six times for 65 yards and a touchdown in the first half. He also caught a 38-yard touchdown bomb from Weckesser midway through the first quarter.
Payne carried the ball four times for 71 yards in the first half, including a 32-yard burst midway through the second quarter that set up yet another scoring drive.
Danville scored on all six of its offensive possessions in the first half. The Blue Devils ran 26 plays and scored 41 points.
Blum said he was pleased with his team’s focus on that end of the field.
“Offensively, I thought we were firing on all cylinders,” he said. “I thought we were very balanced. I thought we could run the ball, but I also thought we did some good stuff in the pass game as well, especially our screen game.”
Windham threatened to score twice in the first half, but Danville’s defense wouldn’t allow it.
Senior quarterback Chase Eye, a 5-foot-11 roadrunner with exceptional vision, lunged twice for the goal line in an effort to get the Bombers on the board. He charged toward paydirt from 8 yards out late in the first quarter, and from 15 yards out late in the second quarter.
Both times, he extended the ball toward the plane with his left hand, hanging in mid-air as he dove. And both times, Danville defenders knocked the ball loose and recovered it.
“Defensively, they have a really good quarterback (and) a couple good skill kids. I thought we did a good job minimizing their impact there in the first half,” Blum said. “A couple times they had some drives, but we were able to force some turnovers in their red zone.”
The Bombers featured an array of quick skill players, including Eye, sophomore tailback Carlos Bruton and senior wideout Lucas Churchill. Danville’s starting defense was able to keep the trio in-check most of the first half.
“We knew they were trying to hit the edge on us, so we did a lot of bumps, slants to the strait, slants in that motion. And we did a pretty good job containing those guys,” Blum said.
“There were a couple times (when) they got outside on us, but you’re gonna give up some of those. But for the most part, I thought our guys played well. They played hard, they ran to the ball.”
Danville led 41-0 at halftime, which meant the clock began running as soon as the second half started.
The Bombers’ starters scored three touchdowns on the Blue Devils’ backups – Eye had scoring carries of 4 and 63 yards, and Churchill ran the ball in from 9 yards out – but it was too little, too late for the visitors from Portage County.
As the final horn sounded, Payne and Colopy surprised Blum, dumping a cooler of ice water on his head in celebration.
The 24-year-old had just won his first playoff game as a head coach, and his players couldn’t have been prouder.
“He’s our leader. He’s our everything. Everyone follows him. Everyone believes in him. Everyone’s bought in because of him,” Lucas said of Blum.
“I mean, he (brought) the juice to every 6 a.m. workout that we all had to go to. He brings the juice to everything. Four-hour practices – no one likes that, but you know, he brought the juice and he made it less miserable.”
Lucas called the experience of playing in Blum’s first playoff win “something special.”
“I mean, especially for it to be his first out of the many that will come, it’s something that will be special to me forever,” the senior said.
Temperatures had dipped into the low-40s by the time the game ended Friday. Blum was soaked, his royal blue jacket now navy after the celebratory shower.
But the first-year head coach couldn’t stop smiling.
“It means everything. I wouldn’t be here without my kids; my senior class; my coaches; our community. It means a lot to me,” Blum said.
“To trust a 24-year-old young coach – never had any experience with this much (responsibility) – it means a lot to me. And I’m just happy for our community, that they get to experience home playoff games and experience some kids that work their butts off every day and produce on the field. I’m just really happy.”
The Blue Devils survived and advanced Friday, and now they’ll have one more week together. One more opportunity to play in front of their home fans, on Tough Street, under the lights.
Blum said there’s nothing better.
“It’s everything, man. I mean, not only is it an opportunity for our seniors to have one more week, but it’s an opportunity to practice for our freshmen and sophomores, and more reps for them to get better and correct the issues that we’ll see on game film from tonight when they got to play in the second half,” Blum said.
“That’s how you build programs. The more playoff weeks you are able to build up and build up and build up, the more reps your program gets. So obviously that’s something we’re looking forward to and I know our kids are, too.”
Danville will stay at home next week for its second-round playoff game against Hillsdale. The Blue Devils and Falcons had one common opponent this regular season: Loudonville. Danville beat the Redbirds in Week 6, 19-7, while Hillsdale lost to them in Week 3, 14-0.
The Blue Devils will have plenty to sharpen up come Week 12, Blum said.
“I think we still need to keep doing the things consistently. We need to establish our run game. We need to keep working on our passing game offensively. Defensively, we need to work on some coverage things – you know, shore up our back end a little bit. Those are some things that hurt us a little bit there in the first half,” he said.
“We’ll figure out who our opponent is and then we’ll go from there.”
But on Friday, as friends and family members congratulated Danville’s players and coaches on the field after the final horn, the focus was on the present.
The Blue Devils had just dominated their first-round opponent. Lucas said it was a product of Danville’s schedule to this point – having faced two playoff teams in non-conference play, and then five more in the KMAC gauntlet.
Those schools were all bigger as well. Now, the Blue Devils are competing on even ground.
“Anything can happen every week (in the KMAC). Everyone has studs on their team. Everyone has (players) that can just play well and go off. Any team can beat anyone. And you know, this kind of speaks to that,” Lucas said.
“We didn’t take these guys lightly. We don’t take anyone lightly. We’re just ready to get back and ready to face whoever comes (next).”
