DANVILLE — Max Payne could barely walk by the end of the third quarter Friday.
His hamstrings and calves had tightened into balls, the cost of playing nearly every down against a formidable foe on an unseasonably warm, 65-degree November night.
The Danville senior tried to re-enter the game multiple times. But it always ended the same way: with him on the ground, wincing, then limping toward the sideline.
It appeared his night was over. Or, at the very least, his impact on the game’s final period would be lessened.
But Danville’s motto this season has been, “No excuses, find a way.” And Payne was about to live up to it.
Under the guidance of trainer Raven Phelps, Payne tried everything in the book. He stretched vigorously. He drank mustard. He applied a blue pain-relief gel. He screamed in pain, face-down on the sideline, as Phelps beat the back of his legs loose.
By the time the fourth quarter began – Danville and Hillsdale tied at 35 in a Division VII regional quarterfinal – Payne was ready to go. Physically, he had done what he could. The rest of the game would have to be mental.
“I didn’t want to finish my last home game ever on the sideline. …” Payne, the team’s tailback, linebacker and kicker, said afterwards. “And we had to win.”
Payne hobbled back onto the field and helped lead Danville to one of its most improbable, unforgettable wins in recent memory. The Blue Devils withstood a ferocious Hillsdale rally to beat the Falcons, 42-41, and advance to the regional semifinals.
The final quarter included an interception; a turnover on downs; a failed two-point conversion; an onside kick; and a last-second missed field goal.
It concluded a night that saw a 21-point first-quarter lead vanish; a referee request police assistance in dealing with a rowdy fan; and two of north central Ohio’s top young coaches go head-to-head in a chess match for the ages.
All Payne could do afterwards was smile.
“None of us were ready for our season to be over yet. That’s the biggest thing,” the senior said. “(We’ve been) prepping all year for this. We weren’t ready to give that up.”
With Friday’s win, the Blue Devils won’t have to. Danville (10-2), seeded third in Region 25, will face 10th-seeded Lucas (6-6) next Saturday night in the regional semifinals. The game will be played at a neutral site to-be-determined.
The winner will advance to the regional championship game – one step away from the state semifinals.
But for now, the Blue Devils will rejoice over how far they’ve come. They went from winning 16 games total over the last four seasons to winning 10 already this year. They posted their best regular-season record since 2017 this fall, finishing second in the knock-down, drag-out Knox-Morrow Athletic Conference, and have now won multiple playoff games for the first time since that same year.
They are the last team left standing in Knox County and the KMAC, and are one of 16 Division VII teams remaining statewide.
Matthew Blum, Danville’s first-year head coach, said Friday this is exactly where the Blue Devils expected to be.
“It means everything to us. This is what Danville football’s about – making playoff runs and being able to compete in our conference and being able to win 10 games. … That’s our standard. We’ve lost that the last couple years, and to be able to do this and get it back and hopefully sustain it as the years go on, that’s our main goal,” Blum said.
“But you know, this is the identity of Danville football. That’s what I’m trying to establish. And I couldn’t do it without our kids. Our kids have fully bought in, and they deserve everything they’ve received. And (for our seniors) to win in their last game here … (with) all the hard work they’ve put in, they earned it. I’m just really happy for them and our community.”
THE GAME: Danville’s instant classic with sixth-seeded Hillsdale (7-5) Friday night started off as a one-sided affair.
The Blue Devils scored three times in the game’s first nine minutes.
Junior quarterback Walker Weckesser hit senior wideout Kaiden Colopy on a screen pass, and Colopy ran it in from 46 yards out to give Danville a 7-0 lead 59 seconds into the game.
Then, after junior defensive lineman Kendall Carter sacked Hillsdale senior quarterback Jake Hoverstock, forcing a fumble Dillon Looney would recover, Danville struck again. Payne, the team’s starting tailback, slipped into the quarterback role and fired a dime to sophomore Josh Byers Jr. over the middle, connecting for an 8-yard touchdown pass that gave Danville a 13-0 lead.
The Blue Devils scored again on their next offensive possession. They capped off a 12-play, 53-yard drive with an 11-yard Colopy touchdown rush on third-and-goal, widening the margin to 21-0 with 2:54 left in the first quarter (Payne ran the ball in for the two-point conversion).
But the Falcons began to find their footing in the second stanza.
They capped off a nine-play, 66-yard drive with a 1-yard touchdown plunge from Hoverstock, narrowing the margin to 21-7 with 11:05 left until halftime.
Then, after Colopy answered with his third touchdown of the night, a 13-yard scamper to the pylon, Hillsdale fired back. Hoverstock rolled out and found senior Max Vesper wide open in the corner of the end zone for a 13-yard scoring strike, making it 28-14 with 7:31 left until intermission.
Danville scored its fifth and final touchdown of the first half on its next possession. The Blue Devils drove 65 yards in just over three minutes, using a 39-yard pass from Weckesser to Peyton Horn to set up a 1-yard touchdown plunge from Payne on fourth-and-goal.
The Falcons closed the half strong, however. They marched 56 yards in less than three minutes, scoring on a 3-yard touchdown dive from junior Braylen Jarvis that made it 35-21 going into the locker room.
Hillsdale head coach Trevor Cline said his message at halftime was simple.
“The biggest thing was, ‘Take care of the ball,'” Cline recalled. “We’ve (played) before in big games, and we’ve hurt ourselves by not taking care of the football.”
The Falcons did just that in the third quarter.
Behind a rejuvenated, four-pronged rushing attack, Hillsdale gashed Danville on the offensive side of the ball. Jarvis scored twice in a row to begin the period, capping off 62- and 75-yard drives with red-zone touchdown bursts to tie the game at 35 with 3:02 remaining.
The Falcons were getting whatever they wanted offensively – picking up seven, eight and nine yards per carry via the backfield of Hoverstock, Vesper, Jarvis and Owen Sloan. This set up an efficient and lethal big-play passing game, with Hoverstock hitting his main targets, junior Jack Fickes and senior David Parker, over the middle and on the sidelines.
And the Falcons were able to slow Danville’s offense down as well. After scoring on five straight possessions in the first half, the Blue Devils went scoreless in the third quarter, punting the ball and turning it over on downs to enter the fourth quarter tied at 35.
A nervous buzz settled over the home crowd as the clock reset. Danville’s 21-point lead had vanished, and Hillsdale appeared to have all the momentum heading into the game’s final period.
But the Blue Devils weren’t about to let this one slip away.
Danville’s defense dialed in, forcing a punt and a turnover on downs to begin the fourth quarter, and the offense soon followed. Payne, back on the field after a quarter of cramping, ran the ball four times in a row on the Blue Devils’ next offensive possession, moving Danville into scoring position.
The senior threw his second touchdown pass of the night on the next play. He hit Weckesser for a 9-yard scoring strike over the middle, bringing the home crowd to its feet and giving Danville a 42-35 lead with 6:11 remaining.
“Our coaches have us in really good shape. …” said Payne, when asked about his team’s ability to step up and turn things around in the fourth quarter.
“It’s all about the preparation. … We get out of school, we have to get ready for practice, and practice starts at 3:15. We don’t get done until after 6. It’s three hours of practice every day. And then just all the preparation we do as a team and all the stuff we’ve done as a family helps us all stay together, as one unit.”
Hillsdale wasn’t done yet. Hoverstock led the Falcons on a 13-play, 70-yard drive that took more than five minutes and resulted in a 6-yard touchdown burst from the senior quarterback, making it 42-41 with 1:07 left.
But the Falcons chose to go for two, and the Blue Devils were ready. Hoverstock’s end-zone pass fell incomplete due to pressure from Weckesser and airtight coverage from the secondary, and Danville retained its lead with just over a minute remaining.
What happened next left the home crowd in shock. Hillsdale successfully executed an onside kick, recovering the ball at Danville’s 47-yard-line with 67 seconds left. The Falcons would have one final chance to score and win the game.
But it simply wasn’t in the cards.
After driving to Danville’s 18-yard-line, Hillsdale’s offense stalled. The Blue Devils batted down back-to-back passes, and on third-and-10 with 30 seconds left, pressured Hoverstock into an off-balance throw down the middle of the field, which fell incomplete.
This forced Hillsdale to attempt a 36-yard field goal from the far-right hash with 19 seconds left. A make would have all but guaranteed a Falcons victory. A miss would have done the opposite.
The kick fell 10 yards short.
Pandemonium ensued shortly thereafter. Danville players leapt with joy, while Hillsdale players burst into tears. The road bleachers fell silent, while the home bleachers erupted in a chorus of shrieks and cowbells.
The Blue Devils took one final knee, and that was that. Danville had survived and advanced.
“I’m gonna remember this game for the rest of my life. I can almost promise you that,” Blum said afterwards. “And we’ll remember the final score was 42-41, but there were so many individual plays and so many individual battles that our kids won to be able to get there.
“So I will remember this game for the rest of my life, and I hope our kids do, too, because that cemented their legacy. And to be able to get a playoff win like this, and to fight into Week 13, that should mean everything to them.”
THE KEYS: Danville made plays when it had to Friday night.
And in the end, the Blue Devils made one more play than the Falcons.
Blum said the win spoke to the toughness of his team – one that has experienced its fair share of close losses this year as well.
“That shows the growth of our program, even just in the span of this year. Because when we needed to make the plays against Centerburg, we didn’t. And now, in Week 12, we found a way to make those plays. And that’s what counts,” Blum said.
“We’re just really lucky and we’re really fortunate to have hard-nosed kids who never give up. They’re gonna fight to the end of the battle. You know, we might not be the biggest, we might not be the most athletic, but we will fight ’til the end. And just to be able to beat a team like this, on our home field – it won’t be our seniors’ last game – it just means everything to us.
“I’m just really happy for everybody in our community, just to be able to experience stuff like this.”
Aside from the third quarter, Danville was able to move the ball down the field Friday with ease. Blum credited the performance to his offensive staff’s preparation and his players’ execution.
“I think our offensive staff did a really nice job this week of planning. I’ve gotta give them a ton of credit – to score 40 points in three straight games, no matter the opponent. Because our offense was struggling a little bit there towards the end of the season, and they’ve done a really nice job of adjusting and game-planning really well,” Blum said.
“But (tonight) wasn’t anything out-of-the-ordinary. You know, we have two studs. I mean, anybody that watches film knows that. We have Max Payne as our running back, and we have Kaiden Colopy, No. 45, as our receiver. Our quarterback does a nice job getting both of them the ball, and we have a good offensive line up front. It’s not hard. But our kids just play extremely hard and they fight to the whistle. So that’s the main takeaway.”
And defensively, Danville got stops Friday when it mattered most. The Blue Devils were able to buckle down in the fourth quarter and keep the Falcons from scoring in three of their final four possessions, sealing the win.
“I think our defensive staff made some nice adjustments,” Blum said. “They were gashing us. I mean, they did a nice job with different stuff. We kind of took their option stuff away, so they reverted to some different sweeps and zones and powers. And you know, we just had to have our guys step up.
“We did some things schematically to kind of help that, but at the end of the day, our kids stepped up when it counted the most.”
Cline said self-inflicted wounds cost Hillsdale early, preventing the Falcons from getting off to a faster start. And that slow start came back to haunt the visitors late.
“We knew that our guys would show up and be physical and we knew they were gonna show up and be physical, too. And for us … our biggest thing this year is, ‘You’ve gotta get out of your own way.’ Sometimes we were able to do that, sometimes we weren’t,” Cline said.
“And in the second half, for the most part, we were able to get out our own way. But I mean, they battle, and that’s all you can ask out of your guys.”
MOVING FORWARD: A night that ended in tears of joy for Danville ended in tears of sorrow for Hillsdale.
The Falcons, who started the year 1-3, had rallied to win six of their last eight games. They finished tied for third in the ultra-competitive Wayne County Athletic League. But their journey ended Friday night on Tough Street.
Cline said he was proud of his group regardless.
“After a game like this, you just tell ’em how proud you are of ’em. Because when we were 1-3 earlier this year, a lot of people just counted ’em out. And us, as a team, we knew that outside our room, there probably weren’t too many people that believed in us. But we knew that if we kept working hard, things would fall into place,” the fifth-year head coach said.
“And they gave themselves a shot to win a WCAL title – we came up short – and then they got to the second round of the playoffs and they gave themselves a shot in this game, too. Not too many groups, if you got down 21-0, would have the ability to stick together and deal with adversity, and they did that tonight and they gave themselves a chance to win it. So I’m extremely proud.”
Hillsdale will graduate 13 seniors from this year’s team, including several key playmakers, such as Hoverstock and Vesper. Cline said the team’s elder statesmen will be missed.
“These guys mean a lot to me. This senior group is my first group that I had when I came back here and started teaching. They were the reason I fell back in love with Hillsdale. So I can’t thank them enough,” Cline said.
“They’ve been nothing but great leaders for our group, so I’m extremely proud of ’em. Freshmen through seniors, this was a great group of kids.”
Danville’s 10 seniors, meanwhile, will live to play another week.
The Blue Devils will take their four-game winning streak into the regional semifinals, where they’ll face a Lucas squad that upset second-seeded Lowellville (11-1), 35-25, on the road Friday.
It will be Danville’s first trip to the Round of 16 since 2017 – when the current senior class was in seventh grade. And according to Payne, that group doesn’t want this journey to end anytime soon.
That’s why they lingered on the field Friday night, well after the final horn. Talking with friends, hugging family members, and posing for pictures.
Soaking in their last moments on Tough Street. And thinking about the opportunity that lies ahead.
“It means the world to us,” Payne said of the playoff run. “We have a group chat (and) we were all texting. We were talking to each other. We were like, ‘We can’t let all this hard work end yet.’ We’ve never made it this far.
“We need to do something special with the group we have, because what we have is special.”
