Prep Football: Danville rolls over Fort Knox 57-7

Along the way, Danville's offense reached season-high totals in yardage and points, and its defense allowed fewer yards and forced more turnovers than in any other game this season as the Admirals (4-1, 1-0 Class AA, District 4) dealt Fort Knox (0-5, 0-1) its 15th straight defeat.

And the players said they made strides that made their first district game valuable even though it wasn't competitive.

"It's a boost of confidence," said defensive back Kruz Warner, who had two of the Danville defense's four interceptions. "I believe we played good tonight."

One of the things Danville wanted to work on was its passing game, and Harp said they opened it up in a way they had previously only done in practice. The results were good, as quarterback Trae Grey completed six of nine passes for a career-high 258 yards and three touchdowns.

"We changed some things around in the passing game from what we've done the past two or three games and tried to simplify things," Harp said.

Grey did that with both short and long passes for the first three quarters.

Receivers in the game

"They were saying we were running up the score, but we just got our receivers in the game more," he said. "Everybody knows we can run the ball, and I think we did really well passing tonight.

"I think I've got the best receivers in the state, and the best pass protection, hands down."

Grey threw most often to Derrik Henderson and Leonard Macon, who combined for four catches and 204 receiving yards.

"The bottom line is you've got to get the ball to your playmakers, and Leonard and Derrik are two of them," Harp said.

Henderson scored from 92 yards out in the second quarter and from 65 yards in the fourth. Macon scored on a 19-yard reception, catching a short pass and reversing his field as he rambled for 50 yards or more.

Antwoine Simon, Adrian Bates and Jae Paul Jones each had rushing touchdowns, and a 20-yard TD run by Grey made him the Admirals' leading rusher with 41 yards on eight carries.

Meanwhile, the Danville secondary kept Fort Knox in check when the Eagles went to a pass-oriented attack in the second quarter with quarterback Cameron Barrientos, who was 6-for-15 with three interceptions after starter Kevin Waits threw only twice in the first period.

"We'd been practicing a lot on their offensive switches," Warner said. "Our secondary stepped it up. We looked for the ball on every play and had a lot of good plays."

Interceptions galore

Henderson and Tyrell Johnson each had an interception in addition to Warner's two picks, and three of the four interceptions led to touchdowns. Freshman Marcus Beasley also recovered a fumble in the fourth quarter.

Danville's first line of defense was kickoff specialist Jordan Gay, who landed six of his eight kickoffs in the end zone and another at the 1-yard line. Fort Knox never started a drive beyond its own 20 after a Danville kickoff.

"He did a super job of kicking off," Harp said. "It's a weapon when you can do that, because they're looking at 80 yards every time."

Danville didn't do everything right. There were three turnovers - all fumbles - and Harp said the Admirals' defensive front didn't cover Fort Knox's toss sweep plays very well.

"If I was disappointed in anything, that was it," he said. "Everything else I felt like we did well."

Statistics

At Fort Knox

First Quarter

Danville - Antwoine Simon 5 run (Chris Oster kick), 9:40. Danville - Adrian Bates 20 run (Brandon Webster pass from Trae Grey), :18.

Second Quarter

Danville - Tyrell Johnson 31 run (Oster kick), 10:05.

Fort Knox - Jeremy Canto 49 pass from Cameron Barrientos (Ryan Ogden kick), 8:03.

Danville - Derrik Henderson 92 pass from Grey (Oster kick), 7:37.

Danville - Leonard Macon 19 pass from Grey (Oster kick), 6:05.

Danville - Jae Paul Jones 14 run (Oster kick), 4:39.

Third Quarter

Danville - Henderson 65 pass from Grey (Oster kick), 11:40.

Danville - Grey 20 run (Oster kick), 4:40.

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING-Danville, Trae Grey 8-41, Tyrell Johnson 2-37, Devin Lynn 3-25, Leonard Macon 1-24, Adrian Bates 1-20, Jae Paul Jones 1-14, Antwoine Simon 3-19, Brandon Webster 1-7, Hunter Terry 1-0, Raymon Davis 2-minus 3, Will Dunn 1-minus 4, team 2-minus 8. Fort Knox, Jarron Decker 8-28, Fadore Bing 11-26, Devin Jackson 7-23, Antonio Fed 7-20, Jerry Smith 2-17, Lance Lane 1-3, Kevin Waits 1-0, team 1-minus 2, Cameron Barrientos 4-minus 2.

PASSING-Danville, Grey 6-9-0-258. Fort Knox, Barrientos 6-15-3-93, Waits 1-2-1-12.

RECEIVING-Danville, Derrik Henderson 2-157, Macon 2-47, Johnson 1-43, Dominique Alcorn 1-11. Fort Knox, Jeremy Canto 2-54, Bing 2-20, Ben Hagy 1-24, Dario Shelton 1-5, Decker 1-2.