URBANA — What a difference a week can make in the world of high school football.
The Danville Vikings found the perfect way to bounce back from a disappointing loss at home in Week 1 against Bloomington.
A trip over to McKinley Field in Urbana and a 51-6 victory over the Tigers in a Big 12 Conference football contest was just the remedy the Vikings needed.
“It’s a great win,’’ Danville senior Jerry Reed III said. “Last week, we were all over the place. We didn’t know what we were doing and there was a lot of confusion.
“Bouncing back tonight was important. Now, we need to focus on next week and every week after that.’’
For the second year in a row, Reed played a big role in the Danville defense setting the tone against Urbana.
His interception and 53-yard return for a touchdown got the scoring started. Last season, Reed had one of the four interceptions return for a touchdown by Danville, tying an IHSA record.
“I was only able to get that pick because of the other guys on the defense doing their job,’’ he said. “Our defense was something that we needed to work on this week and it’s something that we need to keep improving this season.
“Tonight, we did our assignments and we were flying around where we needed to be.’’
According to senior Diddy Robinson, who scored touchdowns on a 40-yard run and 13-yard reception, their play on Friday night was a carry over from the week in practice.
“We flied around all week in practice and we knew what we had to do to beat the Tigers,’’ said Robinson, admitting it was different than the first week of the season. “We prepared well and you saw the outcome of the game.
“This is definitely the type of game we needed to bounce back, get our confidence back, so that we can bring that from now on and definitely take it into next week and every game after that.’’
Not only did Danville play better on the defensive side, but the Vikings offense scored four times in the first half on its way to a 31-0 halftime advantage.
“We executed our plays better this week. We followed our blocks and everything went from there,’’ said Robinson, who is being used as a receiver, running back and quarterback at times. “I like play multi-roles. I’m just going to execute what ever coach wants me to do.’’
It was also a night of firsts for the Vikings on offense.
Junior CalVontae Modest and sophomore Amillian Beasley each scored their first-ever varsity touchdowns, while junior Jayden Rowell had his first-ever offensive touchdown for the Vikings.
“This was a week to build confidence and we were able to get everyone playing,’’ Danville coach Marcus Forrest said. “It was also a chance to see if we could improve fundamentally with a lot of things that we were trying to do. That was one of the things that we were able to do tonight. We improved.
“Everyone flew around. We were a lot more aggressive and we minimized a lot of mistakes that we had last week. That was the biggest thing we wanted to do in this game is minimize our mistakes.’’
The Vikings were able to avoid any turnovers in the contest, while forcing three but they were still guilty of eight penalties.
“It’s a huge deal to go without a turnover, but we still have to minimize the penalties,’’ Forrest said. “Anytime, we don’t turn the ball over, we give ourselves more opportunities and we get a chance to keep everything flowing.
“Taking care of the ball and taking care of our assignments were a lot better this week.’’
Beasley, who missed the first week because he didn’t have the IHSA required number of practices, started at linebacker and played a key role in the Vikings holding the Tigers under 100 yards of total offense in the first half.
“He brought a lot of energy and a lot of physicality,’’ said Forrest of Beasley. “The aggressiveness he play with translated to the others on the defensive side of the football. I think that helped us fly around. That was one of the things that we noticed this week once he got his required practices in.
“We knew he would fly around and be aggressive. He is still learning and still growing, but it’s a plus to have an athletic kid at linebacker that can run around..’’
Urbana (0-2) avoided the shutout when Kyree Hillsman connected with Nazir Johnson on a 46-yard scoring strike in the final minutes.
Up next for Danville is a home game next Friday against Normal West.
Marcus Forrest
He brought a lot of energy and a lot physicality. The aggressiveness he played with, that kind of translated to the others. That helped us fly around. That was one of the things that we noticed throughout the week, once he got his required practices in. We knew he was going to fly around and be aggressive. He is still learning and still growing. It’s a plus to have an athletic kid at linebacker that can run around, it helps make up for some of the athleticism that we had last year.
At McKinley Field, Urbana Danville 51, Urbana 6
Danville 19 12 14 6 — 51
Urbana 0 0 0 6 — 6
First quarter
Danville — Jerry Reed III 53-yard interception return (Tim Long kick), 7:12.
Danville — Jayden Rowell 46-yard run (kick failed) 3:18.
Danville — Diddy Robinson 13-yard pass from Darius Jay (pass failed) 2:34.
Second quarter
Danville — Jay 22-yard run (kick failed) 8:00.
Danville — Amillian Beasley 1-yard run (kick failed), 1:06.
Third quarter
Danville — Diddy Robinson 40-yard run (Long kick), 10:14.
Danville — Rowell 11-yard pass from Jay (Long kick), 6:17.
Fourth quarter
Danville — CalVontae Modest 4-yard run (kick failed), 7:42.
Urbana — Nazir Johnson 46-yard pass from Kyree Hillsman (kick failed) 2:12.