NORMAL - Normal Community High School's football team was heading into the teeth of a strong wind Friday night. The Ironmen responded by smacking it, and Danville, right in the mouth.

NCHS opened the game with an 80-yard drive which consumed 10 minutes, 10 seconds. Fittingly, No. 20, running back Joey Anderson, capped the 20-play march with a 9-yard touchdown run. The No. 1 state-ranked Ironmen had established control and went on to a 41-0 victory in the opening round of the Class 6A playoffs.

"That's kind of picture-perfect … a 10-minute drive into the wind to start the game," NCHS senior quarterback Omar Clayton said. "It's exactly what we wanted. It let them know it was hard-nosed football and we were going to punch it through."

NCHS (10-0) kept the drive alive with a 13-yard run by Sam Smith on a fake punt from their own 37-yard line. Clayton later ran for a first down on fourth-and-1 at the Danville 25.

"That might be the longest drive I've ever been a part of," Ironmen coach Hud Venerable said. "Our kids did a tremendous job of executing and running hard. Then to get the touchdown at the end was big. We overcame a holding penalty and a procedure penalty too, so it's not like it was easy."

The victory advanced top-seeded NCHS to a second-round home game next week against Morris, a 21-18 winner Friday night over Joliet Catholic. The date and time for the game will be announced later. It will be a rematch of last year's Class 6A state title game won by Morris, 14-9.

The Ironmen added to the lead in the second quarter when Clayton scored on a 1-yard run. The TD was set up by his 32-yard pass to Marcus King to the Danville 2.

NCHS struck again 1:32 before halftime when Clayton hit tight end Cody Gilles for a 27-yard touchdown. Max Bakana's third of five extra-point kicks made it 21-0 at the half.

The Ironmen surged to a 35-0 lead late in the third quarter on a 3-yard scoring run by junior running back Dan Moore and a 32-yard TD pass from Clayton to King, who made a leaping grab in the back of the end zone.

Senior Cornell Caldwell added a 1-yard touchdown midway through the fourth quarter as NCHS won more easily than in the regular-season finale last week at Danville (35-12).

Moore rushed for 117 yards on 20 carries, leading the Ironmen to 307 yards on the ground. Clayton ran for 43 and was 4 of 8 passing for 96 yards and two TDs. No. 16 seed Danville (5-5) was held to 104 yards of offense and five first downs.

NCHS linemen Kirkland Grant and Nick Price each had 11 tackles, as did linebacker Austin Kull. Linebacker Sam Smith added eight.

"I thought Kirkland was really active tonight," Venerable said. "He's been hampered by an ankle injury, but he was very active. He and Nick Price … it just seemed like they had trouble handling those two. Our deep coverage was very good, too."

Grant said the Ironmen defense "took it to the next level," adding, "You have to step it up now. It's the playoffs."

"We just didn't want this to be our last week of football," Price said. "Everyone gave their best effort and we played off of each other."

Danville did not pick up a first down until the final minute of the first half. The Vikings tried an onside kick to start the game, but were flagged for being offsides.

"I thought it (the onside kick) was perfect, but I guess we were offsides," Danville coach B.J. Luke said. "We got them stopped, but we let them off on the fake punt. They made that work and held the ball and went down and scored and used up almost all of the time (in the first quarter).

"Then they just kind of thumped us. They got after us."

Danville standout receiver Marcus Williams tried to play on an injured leg and was not a factor. After catching five passes for 125 yards against NCHS last week, he had no receptions Friday night. He gained one yard on one rushing attempt.

"We threw him out there hoping to get something out of him, but he really couldn't run," Luke said. "That makes it a little tougher for us."

---

More photos

To see more photos from the high school football playoffs, click here.