By Harold Raker
The Daily Item
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SUNBURY — After a preseason replete with adversity for the Danville football team, Russell Heath couldn’t wait to get the season started.
Friday night against Shikellamy, in a Heartland Athletic Conference Division I battle of two projected title contenders, Heath played that way, too.
The 6-foot, 205-pound senior fullback ran through holes when they were there, opened his own when they were not, and pounded the Braves to the tune of 136 yards and two touchdowns as the Ironmen opened the season with a 21-7 victory.
Heath, who saw two fellow senior starters lose their season to injuries sustained in a summer traffic accident, said, “We’ve been practicing so hard this whole summer, we couldn’t wait for the first game and the whole season.”
Heath also caused havoc from his linebacker spot as the Ironmen pressured Braves talented senior quarterback Garrett Pope all night, sacking him twice.
“Pope is a great quarterback and I’m proud of our defense and what they did,” Heath said.
In addition to Heath, speedy senior halfback Anthony Sori burned the Braves for 102 yards and one TD.
The Ironmen dominated much of the game up front on both sides of the ball.
Danville coach Jim Keiser said, “(Linebackers) Dylan Dailey, Russell Heath and Adam Raup and that defensive line did a heck of a job, that (noseguard) Hughston Bogart kid was dominating, he ate up blocks so our linebackers could make plays.”
Shikellamy coach Sam Stroh said part of the problem for the Braves was, “We just didn’t move our feet. I’m not taking away from them, but when your feet are stuck in mud and you can’t get moving, and their linebackers are good and you can’t let those kids run free.”
The game took a sudden bad turn for Shikellamy in the first quarter.
Shikellamy junior cornerback Tyler Pratt picked off an Andrew Andreychik pass and the Braves drove to the Ironmen one-yard line, but lost a fumble.
Not only did they deny the Braves the lead, but nine plays later, the Ironmen took the lead on a 47-yard TD run by Heath. He appeared hemmed in by a bevy of Braves, but broke loose, started right, then cut left and was untouched to the end zone. Dylan Friday’s PAT made it 7-0 with 40 seconds left in the opening quarter.
“I just read my blocks the whole way, looked at where my guys were located and they led me to the end zone. I kind of had to change what I was doing a little bit, I had to move outside my line where I was supposed to go but it worked out well because that’s where the blocks were,“ Heath said.
He agreed that the red zone turnover was monumental. “Oh, that was huge. That was a momentum changer right there. That helped us get up.”
Neither coach could argue.
“That was a huge momentum swing. They could have been ahead 7-0 and then we put on that 99-yard drive and that was the turning point in the game,’’ said Keiser. “That’s a 14-point swing.”
Added Stroh, “That was huge and then we kind of mentally caved in after the turnover and let them drive the field,” added Stroh.
For the Braves, that lost fumble was a harbinger for the rest of the game. They lost two more and had a pass intercepted.
Heath attributed those fumbles to opening-night jitters for the Braves and his team’s aggressive play.
“They are a very good team. I think they will change things, but we were going for the ball and trying to rip it out,” he said.
Shikellamy lost another fumble on its next possession, spoiling another promising drive, which included a 29-yard pass from Pope to Pratt to the Danville 32. On their next series, Danville’s Kody Getkin picked off a Pope pass. That led to Danville’s second score, a 2-yard run by Heath for a 14-0 lead with 5:40 left in the second.
Danville came right out in the second half and made it 21-7 on 38-yard Heath TD run.
Stroh was proud of his team for not quitting and indeed the Braves answered immediately with a 13-yard TD run by senior fullback Dominick Wolfe on a nice ball fake by Pope. Mike Yoder’s PAT made it 21-7 with 4:17 left in the third.
Seemingly with new life, the Braves forced a rare three-and-out, but on their first play after the punt they lost another fumble.
“We were battling. We still had a chance to win. The biggest thing I can say positive is I thought that we found ways at times to move the ball. We did some things well,” Stroh said. We did not give up on it.”
