by Scott Sacry
On September 16th, the football teams from Darby and Victor clashed in Victor on a hot fall Saturday. Darby controlled the first half behind a solid running attack and a stout defense, and led 26-0 at halftime. Darby scored early in the second half to make it 34-0, but Victor kept fighting and scored three times down the stretch to keep it close. In the end Darby had too much firepower for the Pirates and held on for the 48-20 victory.
Darby is 2-2 on the season, their two losses came to the #4 and #5 ranked teams in the state. Darby’s head coach, John Steiner, is happy with his team’s progress so far this year, “We’re a young team,” said Steiner.” I’m starting a lot of freshmen and guys that have never played before. But we have talent, so we should only get better as the season goes on.”
Darby’s McCoy Townsend had a big day, rushing for 137 yards and scoring 4 TDs. Payton Ehmann rushed for 72 yards and scored 2 TDs, Brad Reasor rushed for 94 yards, and John Dickens rushed for 87 yards, including a 60-yard TD run.
Although Victor has struggled to find the win column this year, Victor’s head coach, Darren Gossett, is optimistic about his team. “I honestly love this group of kids,” said Gossett. “We are really young but we fight hard. We’re getting better each week!”
For Victor, Evan Silva rushed for 88 yards and had 10 tackles, Logan Jenne had a rushing TD and had 5 tackles, Eli Jones rushed for 60 yards and threw 2 TDs, Alec Rowlan caught two TD passes, Price Johnson had 7 tackles, and Jace Martin had 3 interceptions (2 on PATs).
Darby hosts Charlo on Friday, September 22nd at 7 p.m.
Victor hosts Mission on Saturday, September 23rd at 1 p.m. for their Homecoming game.