Dan River celebrates homecoming with emphatic victory

RINGGOLD — A week after its defense was exploited by Altavista, the motto at Dan River’s practices was to return to its old form — a fast, hard-tackling unit that created havoc for opposing teams.

The Wildcats returned three Nelson County fumbles for touchdowns in the first half and senior linebacker R.J. Myers recorded a season-high 18 tackles as the Wildcats celebrated homecoming with an authoritative 46-6 victory over the Governors Friday night in Dogwood District action.

“All week in practice we focused on being aggressive,” said Myers, who also added a sack and forced fumble. “Last week, we felt like we didn’t come out with our best effort. This week, we brought our ‘A’ game.”

Dan River’s defense was flying all over the field and giving Nelson County (1-5, 0-2 Dogwood) fits from the opening kickoff. The special teams unit helped Dan River out early, as Kevin Eldridge returned the opening kickoff 84 yards to the Nelson County 1-yard line. Ezander Shelton scored two plays later and from there, the rout was on.

Matthew Grubbs and Arshay Jefferson both had nearly identical fumble returns for touchdowns. Grubbs took his 20 yards in the first quarter for the Wildcats’ second score and Jefferson ran his in from 25 yards out, the latter giving the Wildcats (5-2, 2-1 Dogwood) a 34-0 cushion midway through the second quarter.

“Our kids came out with a lot of intensity today and we started from the opening kickoff,” Dan River coach Ferrell Edmunds said. “Our kids were focused. Our team is all about focus. I keep telling the kids they can go as far as they want as long as they are focused.”

Nelson County finished with 95 yards of total offense and was hampered with the loss of starting tailback Trey Barnett early in the first quarter. Nelson County coach Mark Wells confirmed that Barnett was shaken up after returning the opening kickoff and finished with two carries for minus-2 yards. Rodrell Smith, filling in for Barnett, finished with a season-high 83 yards rushing on 12 carries and scored on a 15-yard pass from quarterback James Saunders late in the third quarter.

“I just caught the pass and seen open daylight to the touchdown,” Smith said. “I kept my shoulders low, my feet moving and just ran the ball hard.”

Justin Gunter and Myers scored rushing touchdowns for the Wildcats about four minutes apart at the end of the first quarter and the beginning of the second quarter in between Grubbs and Jefferson’s touchdowns.

Trey Edmunds picked up the trifecta on one play — he sacked Saunders for an 18-yard loss, forced a fumble and was able to recover it in the end zone for a touchdown to put the Wildcats up 40-0 and start the running clock. Edmunds finished with two sacks.

“You put the ball on the ground 10 times, it’s kind of hard to win like that,” Wells said. “When we didn’t put the ball on the ground, we moved the football. … They had short field all night long. They never had to drive anything over 50 yards.”

Nelson County senior lineman Jesse Miller was taken to Danville Regional Center after the game as a precaution. Wells confirmed that Miller suffered a concussion during the game, but it was not serious and that the hospital visit was only as a precaution.

Dan River finished with 174 yards of total offense — 153 on the ground. Preston Fuller scored the game’s final touchdown on an 8-yard run with 6:17 remaining.

“All year, our defense is built for speed. It was a total team effort,” Ferrell Edmunds said. “Defense made some plays, but you’ve still got to look at the whole game. The offense moved the ball the little bit they were on the field and I feel good about the whole win.”

Dan River 46, Nelson County 6
NC 0 0 6 0 -  6
DR 21 19 0 6 -  46
First quarter
DR – Ezander Shelton 4 run (Dane Driskill kick), 11:01
DR – Matthew Grubbs 20 fumble return (Driskill kick), 9:18
DR – Justin Gunter 1 run (Driskill kick), 2:02
Second quarter
DR – R.J. Myers 20 run (pass failed), 10:45
DR – Arshay Jefferson 25 fumble return (Driskill kick), 8:33
DR – Trey Edmunds fumble return in end zone (run failed), 2:43
Third quarter
NC – Rodrell Smith 15 pass from James Saunders (run failed), 4:34
Fourth quarter
DR – Preston Fuller 8 run (kick blocked), 6:17
Team statistics
NC DR
First downs 8 7
Rushes-yards 38-80 28-153
Yards passing 15 21
Passing 1-3-0 2-5-0
Total offense 95 174
Fumbles-lost 5/4 1/1
Penalties-yards 0-0 5-25
Punts-average 3-25 1-36
Individual statistics
Rushing: NC – Smith 12-83, Tyler Vest 13-22, Saunders 4-14, Timmy Williams 2-1, Trey Barnett 2-(-2), Quincy Murphy 1-(-1), Team 4-(-38). DR – Demarrio Hunt 7-61, Shelton 10-51, Myers 1-17, Gunter 4-15, Fuller 2-14, Javontae Farmer 1-5, Team 3-(-10).
Passing: NC – Saunders 1-3-0 15. DR – Gunter 2-5-0 21.
Receiving: NC – Smith 1-15. DR – Deon Hairston 1-15, Kevin Eldridge 1-6.
Records: Nelson County 1-5, 0-2 Dogwood; Dan River 5-2, 2-1 Dogwood.