THORNVILLE — Cyren Wallace lived up to his nickname Friday night.
Danville’s freshman running back rushed for a career-high 293 yards as the top-seeded Blue Devils coasted to a 46-6 win over No. 5 Miller in the Division VII, Region 27 semifinals at Sheridan’s Culver Stadium.
The 5-foot-7, 145-pound Wallace is part of a dynamic running back tandem that includes 5-9, 220-pound senior hammer Aidan Burke. The shifty Wallace is nicknamed “Zoom” while Burke goes by “Boom.”
Wallace had three runs of 70 or more yards, including a 70-yard touchdown dash in the third quarter. He added a 4-yard TD in the fourth.
“We were confident that we would be more physical at the line of scrimmage,” said Wallace, who came into Friday’s game with 505 rushing yards. “We wanted to take advantage of that and attack them.”
Wallace, who moonlights as Danville’s punt returner, muffed a punt late in the first quarter that was recovered by Miller’s Jayden Kellar at the Miller 41-yard line late in the first quarter. The Blue Devils’ defense forced a three-and-out, but the Miller punt was blocked by Caleb Lucas and scooped up by Chris Mosher, who returned it 18 yards for the touchdown.
“After I muffed the punt, I felt like I had to make up for that mistake,” Wallace said. “Coach just said, ‘Come back and make a bigger play.’ ”
His first big play came with the Blue Devils pinned deep in their own territory in the second quarter. He took a handoff from quarterback Jacob Hackman and raced 71 yards to the Miller 27. Four plays later, Hackman scored on a 7-yard keeper and Wallace’s 2-point conversion run made it 14-0.
“Cyren is a competitor and he wanted to make up for his mistake,” Danville coach Matthew Blum said. “You’re going to get knocked down, but the biggest thing is to handle that adversity and keep pushing and that’s what he did.”
Danville (11-2) goosed its lead to 22-0 on Josh Byers’ 2-yard TD plunge midway through the third quarter before the Falcons (10-3) answered. Quarterback Logan Doughty hooked up with Nick Thompson on a 48-yard scoring strike to make it 22-6, but Wallace got loose for a 70-yard TD run to make it 30-6 after three.
Miller was poised to answer, but Danville stuffed the Falcons for no gain on fourth-and-short at the Danville 13 on the first play of the fourth quarter. The Blue Devils marched the length of the field and triggered the running clock when Burke scored on a 2-yard run.
“That stop to start the fourth quarter was big,” said Byers, Danville’s talented senior linebacker. “We preach physicality and I think we were the more physical team tonight.”
Wallace capped the scoring with a 4-yard run late in the fourth quarter. His TD jaunt came one play after he broke free for a 76-yard gain.
“Cyren works his tail off every day,” Blum said. “I can’t speak highly enough about him. He does things the right way.”
Burke backed Wallace with 103 rushing yards. Danville gained 482 yards on the ground.
Meanwhile, the Blue Devils’ defense limited Miller running back Zander Bice to 33 rushing yards on 12 carries. Bice came in with more than 1,500 rushing yards.
“I’m definitely happy with our run defense tonight,” Blum said. “They were laying the wood.”
Danville will play second-seeded Beaver Eastern in next week’s regional championship game. It’s the third straight regional final appearance for the Blue Devils.
“We’ve never been to three straight regional finals,” Blum said. “We’re ready to break down that door and get to the Final Four.”