POTTSVILLE – They say revenge is a dish best served cold.
Apparently the Daniel Boone football team disagrees. The Blazers came out hot and handily defeated Pottsville, 49-7, Friday night at Veterans Memorial Stadium.
After having their playoff hopes eliminated by the Crimson Tide (0-5, 0-8) on a last-minute field goal last season, the Blazers (3-2, 5-3) looked to gain their revenge this time around.
“We came out tonight with a bad taste in our mouths from the loss last season,’ said Daniel Boone quarterback and cornerback Nick Hughes, who threw three touchdown passes Friday and also had an interception return for a touchdown. “It was a game we knew we should have won, but we just didn’t play our game and we let them hang around too long. We weren’t going to let that happen again, though.’
According to head coach Bill Parks, the Blazers have placed a lot of emphasis on playing fast, playing hard and finishing every play this season.
“We wanted to crank it up to an even higher level tonight,’ admitted Parks. “It’s never easy to play a winless team, because you know they are hungry for a win. We didn’t want to give them any opportunity to hang around like we did last time.’
After forcing a Pottsville punt early in the first quarter, senior Nick Galanti ran the first play of the drive for a 65-yard touchdown to give Daniel Boone the lead 7-0.
On the ensuing Tide drive, the Blazers secondary forced a fumble which Galanti recovered.
“I was really fired up and ready to go tonight,’ said Galanti, who finished with 111 rushing yards. “Coach (Parks) told us before the game to put the pedal to the floor and don’t stop, so that’s what I did from the get-go.’
Following the turnover, Hughes threw it to his 6-3 receiver Jonathan Charles who bobbled it and fell into the end zone for a 50-yard score to make it 14-0.
Late in the second quarter, Hughes found Charles again on a deep fade for a 70-yard touchdown, extending the lead to 21-0.
“We were able to take advantage of their defensive backs throughout the game,’ said Hughes. “(Charles) has a lot of speed and ability which make him tough to match up with. He’s the type of guy who will go up and get any ball.’
After forcing another Crimson Tide punt, the Daniel Boone offense took over at the 42 with just over four minutes left in the half.
Hughes capped off an eight-play drive with a 10-yard touchdown pass to Shayne Bookwalter making it 28-0 going into the half.
“We showed up and played our game in that first half,’ Parks said. “We made the big plays when we needed to and did all the little things to keep them from getting settled in.’
Ten minutes into the second half, Hughes picked off Pottsville quarterback Patrick Keating and returned it for a 63-yard touchdown making it 35-0.
“I read his eyes and knew he wanted to try and throw one up the seam,’ said Hughes. “I had a lot of blocking out front which gave me the opportunity to bring it back.’
On the next Tide drive, the Blazers forced another interception, this time by Sean Seifert, who also ran it back for a score to extend Daniel Boone’s lead to 42-0.
Pottsville wasn’t finished yet though, as Keating found Whitman on their next drive, who scored a 32-yard touchdown to bring it to 42-7.
On their final drive, the Blazers ran all eight plays to senior Jabree Stradford who rushed for 55 yards including the game-ending 27-yard score to make it 49-7.
According to Pottsville head coach Tom McGeoy, Daniel Boone looked like a completely different team than he had seen last season.
“They outplayed us in every aspect of the game from the very beginning,’ he said. “They’re fast, they’re strong and they have a lot of talented guys on both sides of the ball.’
For Parks and the Blazers, the win not only comes as revenge for last season, but also helps the team move another step toward the Division I playoff hunt.
“I’m really proud of the way the guys took care of business tonight,’ said Parks, who says that every game is a must-win at this point in the season. “This was another step toward making the playoffs. I keep telling our guys, we don’t want to leave it up to anyone else. Let’s just go out and keep winning games.’
The Blazers will look to stay hot next weekend as they host Hazleton Friday night at 7 p.m.
