'Not too high, not too low.' Danville stays perfect with sectional win over Lebanon

LEBANON −In a lopsided affair, Danville rolled past Lebanon, 42-13, in an IHSAA 4A Sectional 21 playoff game on Friday, Oct. 23.

Danville worked hard all week behind the scene.

"The key to winning was our week of preparation and practice and taking everything from the film room to the field and stacking good days of practice," said senior quarterback Carter Ward, who threw a 5-yard touchdown pass to give Danville a 34-6 lead in the third quarter and had a rushing touchdown. A great week of practice will lead to a good game. I would definitely say our preparation and our execution along with every guy knowing they are going to do their job on every single play led to us winning."

See Lebanon play Danville in IHSAA football sectional action

Ward commanded the offense, leading a run-heavy attack that totaled 242 yards on the ground. Senior running back Daiton Hood rushed for 113 yards on 19 carries and had a touchdown, and Ward had 49 yards on seven carries.

Danville (10-0) anticipated a hot Lebanon defense − which had yielded just 21 points combined in its past two games − and took advantage of any mistake they it could find.

"We knew they were going to bring some heat on defense, and we knew they were going to be ready after last time," Ward said. "Our motto was to just out-physical them, so that was our thing throughout the week. We had to come into tonight's game and out-physical them and absolutely execute and just play smarter than them."

Despite going into halftime leading, 28-6, Danville knew it could not let up.

"At halftime, we knew we just had to keep our composure," Ward said. "We like to always say 'not too high, not too low,' so just always staying right in the middle. There is a lot that can happen in the second half so we had to keep doing our thing, everybody has to do their job and execute on every single play."

Lebanon (4-6) prepared as much as it could, despite what the scoreboard said.

"Throughout the week, we watched a lot of film and looked at how we played them earlier in the season," said sophomore quarterback Jake Linton, referring to Danville's 28-14 victory on Sept. 18. "We really focused down on what they were going to do in coverage and defense as a whole. However, they switched it midway through the game, and we really tried to address our game plan and just focus down on execute the way we can."

Giving up was never an option on Lebanon's game plan.

"If you take a look at our season, we have honestly been down a bit. In the locker room, we were really confident because we knew we always are able to fight back and we have never really gave up," said Linton, who was 22-of-37 passing for 253 yards and a touchdown.

After a tough loss against Danville and the looming graduation plus the loss of many senior teammates, Linton is looking to use this year as motivation to pursue higher tournament rounds next season year .

"I know I just really need to work on my flaws." Linton said. "I know how hard I need to work to pursue bigger games next year.

Danville advances to play Brebeuf Jesuit (6-4) in the second round of the playoffs on Friday, Oct. 30.