FREDERICKTOWN — If Friday night’s Fredericktown-Danville game was a part of the fall television lineup, it would have been called The Gavin Toombs show.
The 6-foot-5, 230-pound senior pounded the Blue Devils’ defense for four touchdowns, three from five yards out and a fourth from six in a 33-18 victory.
“He’s been all over the field for us,” said Freddies coach Scott Spitler of his star receiver. “You know, we’ve lost two starting running backs, this season, Brody David and Johnny Ashcraft, we have just been a MASH unit, and just having the next guy step up.
“We moved him around and he stepped up huge for us tonight in the running back position.”
The game started out a bit shaky for the Freddies defense, as Danville quarterback Parker Proper took the first snap from scrimmage and sprinted 70 yards to paydirt. The conversion attempt failed though, giving the visitors a 6-0 lead.
Fredericktown took its first possession of the tilt down the field, culminating in a Toombs touchdown.
A bit too much celebration cost the Freddies a 15-yard unsportsmanlike penalty. The extra distance caused the extra point kick to go wide of the uprights, but the saga of the extra point was not over.
Danville was flagged for an offside penalty, moving the ball up five yards, just enough for the ball to make it through the goal posts to give the home team a 7-6 lead, a lead it would not relinquish.
The Blue Devils grabbed a chunk of momentum as the first-half clock expired, turning a jump pass into a 50-yard touchdown.
“We thought that it could be a real game changer, we were able to cut the score down to two scores,” Danville coach Matt Blum said. “We had the score before the half and then we got the ball back and got, I think, one first down and it all kind of fizzled.”
Spitler said that at halftime he reminded his team that adversity is handled in small bites.
“You do not move a mountain all at once, you move it one pebble at a time,” the Freddies’ coach said. “Once something happens, you cannot go back and undo it, but you can keep it from happening again.”
Spitler was proud of the way his team responded to big plays turned in by the Blue Devils.
“We stayed calm and our kids just kept playing one play after the other,” he said.
Blum said that his team has to play four quarters.
“We have to do a better job of playing a complete football game and we did not do that tonight,” he said.
Blum also noted the Freddies were tougher in the pits.
“I think they were stronger on the line than us tonight and that has been our bread and butter,” the Danville coach said.
Next Friday, Fredericktown (8-1 overall, 5-1 in the Knox Morrow Athletic Conference) will host Centerburg with a piece of the KMAC championship on the line.
The Trojans have already clinched a share by blasting East Knox 59-6 on Friday. Centerburg is 8-1 overall, 6-0 in the league.
“We’re going to practice on Monday and that is what it is going to be about,” Spitler said. “We are going to take it one day at a time.”
(Photos by Dan Werner)
