Heartbreaker ends Devils' season in OT
By JAI E. COURTER Echo Pilot

Adam Ritchey is under tight pressure from Daniel Boone's Saeed Khateeb.

The Greencastle-Antrim Blue Devils hosted Daniel Boone on Friday night in the first round of Dictrict 3 Class AAA playoffs. Despite a late fourth quarter drive to force overtime on its home Kaley Field, the Devils were stopped at the one-yard line on fourth down to end the game and their season.

The Devils started with the ball on their own 32. After driving 38 yards, G-A failed to convert on fourth down and turned the ball over on downs. Rusty Cordell recovered a Daniel Boone fumble on the ensuing possession. However, the Devils could not produce a first down and were forced to punt.

Daniel Boone took over with 3:15 left in the first quarter. They drove down inside the Blue Devil 10 yard line, but G-A's defense held the Blazers to a 23-yard field goal at the start of the second quarter.

Later in the quarter, the Devils drove deep into Daniel Boone territory with a chance to get on the scoreboard. On fourth down, the field goal unit was sent out and Christian Hoover set up to attempt a 24-yarder. G-A ran a fake in an attempt to take the lead. Adam Ritchey rolled out but couldn't connect with Stephon Walker in the end zone. The Devils held tough on defense and went into the half trailing 3-0.

Stephon Walker outruns the Boone defenders.

Comeback

The G-A defense suffered a 62-yard drive to start the half that took up about six minutes of the third quarter. The PAT put the Devils down 10-0 midway through the quarter. The Blue Devils took over at midfield to start their ensuing drive. Walker played a big role in the drive by adding a 29-yard run. Ritchey came up big on fourth-and-four with a 10-yard keeper to put the Devils on the five-yardline. Ritchey found the end zone two plays later on a five-yard run to the outside. Hoover's PAT made the score 10-7 with two minutes remaining in the third quarter.

The Blue Devils got the ball back in the fourth quarter but were forced to punt. Daniel Boone took over from their own 40 with 6:46 left in the game with plans to run out the clock. After letting up two first downs, the Devils tightened up their defense and forced a turnover on downs setting them up for a must-score drive with 2:04 remaining in the game.

A Daniel Boone runner is crushed between two Devil defenders.

The drive started with a fiveyard penalty for having too many players on the field. The Devils were faced with third-and-nine in their own territory. Ritchey tossed a screen pass to Dustin Barry, who found a hole and broke loose for 42 yards. Ritchey followed the play with a keeper for 21 yards putting G-A at the Daniel Boone 12. With just 34 seconds remaining in the game, Hoover got the call on fourth down for his first career attempt to tie the game. Hoover drilled the 30-yard attempt to tie the game 10-10 to force an overime period.

OT Each team had four downs to score from 10 yards out. Daniel Boone was up first and they ran for eight yards on their first play. An encroachment penalty put the Blazers on the one-yardline. The halfback ran it in on the second play forcing the Devils to score a touchdown.

A vocal student section Friday night kept the faith.

The Devils made their way to the two yard line in three plays. Walker got the call on fourth down from the two but was stopped halfway and the Devils fell 17-10 to end their season.

The game was the first home playoff appearance by the Devils, who were looking to finish with a school record wins in a season. They finished 8-3 for the season.

Barry led the Devils with 52 yards on 10 carries, while Walker ran 12 times for 48 yards. Ritchey was 4-for-13 in the air for 80 yards. The Devils generated 198 yards of total offense. Jordan Statler led the way on defense with 11 tackles, while Matt Copenhaver and Seth Shindle each added six.

Members of the team consoled each other after the heartbreaking loss.