Blue Devils chase fourth straight regional crown as seniors aim to cement their legacy

The Danville football team has made history — one that very few football teams in Ohio have achieved.

The Blue Devils are heading to their fourth straight regional final, becoming just the 15th team in Ohio high school football history to achieve the accomplishment. They will play Hillsdale on Friday in the Div. VII, Region 27 finale at Ridgewood High School in West Layafette.

“I think it’s kind of cool, because we’re leaving a legacy. No team had last year, been to three straight regional championships and we did that and left our mark. This year’s seniors no team has made it to four and we’re doing that,” said senior Carson Proper. “We’re just leaving a legacy, because now we’re up there with Marion Local, Kirtland, teams like that who have been to four straight regionals.”

“Obviously, I think that’s really special. I think that’s something people may lose sight of how truly special that is. One of our guys looked it up for me – there are 15 schools in entire state of Ohio that have been able to do that – Division 1 through 7. That’s two percent of entire state population that plays high school football that has achieved that same mark,” said Danville coach Matt Blum. “When we’re in the same likes of Marion Local, Kirtland, Columbus Grove – those are the types of teams that you want to be compared to and be able to play and compete with. We’re starting to back those things up, but it’s obviously our goal to be here, it’s our standard to be here, but now we’ve got to go win the game.

“I think it’s special (the seniors playing in regional finals every year). Not many people are able to say that. They’re going to be playing their 57th career game this week. I think it’s like 44 wins total, 13 playoff wins. That’s a stellar high school football career. They’re a good group; they’ve earned it and now it’s the fight to get one more week and be able to build off of that.”

The Devils (8-5) have won one of those regional final games — a 40-6 win over Eastern last season.

This year’s match-up with Hillsdale will be the third time in four years the two teams have faced off in the playoffs. The Falcons ended Danville’s dream season in the Final Four with a 25-22 come-from-behind victory to advance to the state championship game a year ago. Danville beat them 42-41 in the 2022 season in the regional quarterfinals.

That familiarity and last year’s gut-wrenching defeat still resonates with the Danville players, who have penciled in this match-up since it was announced the teams would be back in the same region.

“Making it to the state final four game last year and losing to Hillsdale that was something that we kind of worked on the whole off-season. We wanted to get back to this game, so now we have our shot so we’re not going to let it go by us,” said senior Wesley Payne. “We knew when the regions were put out and they were put in our region. We knew that this day would come at some point, and we’re finally here, so it’s all about just getting 1 percent better each day. On Friday, we’re going to do our best to take care of business.”

It didn’t look like the rematch would come for the Devils the way part of the regular season went. The Devils went 5-5 in the regular season, losing a few games early as they were finding their footing. They had several freshmen and sophomores trying to replace nine seniors from a year ago and it took some time to gel.

Blum felt the team discovered something during the win over Loudonville in Week 6, but it didn’t pay off right away as they dropped games to Knox Morrow Athletic Conference champion Centerburg and Fredericktown.

Everything finally fell into place in a lopsided victory over rival East Knox. That sparked three straight wins, including two where they scored more than 50 points.

“I’d say when we played Loudonville, that’s when we found out who we could be and started to do some things the right way,” Blum said. “The kids are finally starting to gel with each other. I think we finally found the right spots for our kids to be in. Now, they’re starting to make some plays and gain some confidence. We’re a really young team. You look at both sides of the ball we only have two to three senior starters on both sides of the ball. We knew there were going to be some growing pains, especially with some moves we made in the middle of the season, but I think we’re starting to reap the benefits of that now.”

“I think we had kind of turned things around a little bit (in the win over Loudonville). We got Parker (Proper, the freshman quarterback) settled in there a little bit against Loudonville and then had a good game against Cardington,” Payne said. “I think we played a great game, actually, against Centerburg. I think the score was a little deceiving. We had a rough game against Fredericktown. We did not play well. Once we played East Knox, I think we really turned things around and decided what we really wanted out of this because it’s our last ride.”

Proper and Payne, as well as the other four seniors, have been passing down the wisdom they’ve learned from the senior class when they were freshmen. They know that, while it is a huge rematch and the stakes are pretty high, that it’s just another game and the Devils need to play their game in order to win.

“One of the things we’ve got to teach them is just what our seniors when we were freshmen taught us – We all know what’s at stake, but stay calm, cool and collected and go out there and handle business. We’ll prepare throughout the week and we’re going to go out and do the best we can to win the game on Friday,” Payne said.

“I think the biggest thing is just play calm. They’re going to try to get all the younger guys excited because the regional championship is a big deal. The freshmen haven’t been there. They’re going to try to get them playing fast. I think the biggest thing is we need to slow down and just play our game,” Proper said.

A tough league that included three other playoff teams (Mount Gilead, Centerburg and Fredericktown), as well as playing Lucas, which also advanced to the playoffs, helped the Devils prepare for the second season. Now, this special season can turn into something even better.

“I told these kids when we were lifting tonight (Monday), my expectation is to practice on Thanksgiving. They’ve got to go out and execute to be able to achieve that. Hopefully, we’re able to do that,” Blum said.