GLASGOW – The Danville football team walked into Hank Royse Stadium on Friday night rated the No. 1 squad in Class 2A. The Admirals rolled through the Glasgow Scotties and rolled out on their way to Kroger Field next week for a showdown with Mayfield in the state title game.

“Glasgow has a good football (team), but we came out and we were a bit of a buzzsaw tonight,” Danville coach Clay Clevenger said after his team pounded Glasgow 43-0 on Scottie Field. The Admirals, 14-0 overall, are back in the Class 2A state championship a year after losing 24-6 to Christian Academy of Louisville in that same game.

“You know, it’s exciting to go back to the state game. Hopefully, we can go and try to play a little better than we did last year,” Clevenger said. “Last year, I think the moment got us. I’m hoping the experience of being there helps us in the moment. It’s just a football game. You’ve just got to go do your job and play as fast as you can.”

Meanwhile, after his team’s loss in the final four of the state playoffs, Jeff Garmon hoped his players absorbed the defeat and can convert it into a mission for next season.

“Last year, that second-half performance against DeSales paved the way for this year,” Garmon said Friday night. “This senior class picked that up and took the next step and got us past the second round. And I hope this (junior) class takes that same thing, takes it upon themselves, because I really believe we can be back in this game next year.”

Glasgow got the ball first in the game and moved it into Danville territory, but was unable to get on the board.

“That first possession we had a chance to make a play and we just didn’t do it,” Garmon said. “I don’t know if that would have changed the outcome of the game. We couldn’t consistently put plays together back to back against them.”

The Scotties coach also said he knew they had to keep the ball away from Danville’s Dmauriae VanCleave by controlling the ball on offense and using up the clock, but that didn’t pan out either.

On their opening possession, the Admirals faced second-and-7 from their own 24-yard line, when quarterback Zach Thornton swung a pass to VanCleave on the left side of the field. The speedy wide receiver sprinted through Glasgow’s defense 76 yards to the end zone. Nathan Hazlett added the extra-point kick and Danville led 7-0 with 7:01 left in the first quarter.

Glasgow was unable to move the ball on its second drive and again punted the ball away.

It took Danville four plays to add a second touchdown. This time Thornton threw a pass to Jaleel Warren at the goal line. The ball deflected off his hands and into Tanner Ford’s hands, who was in the end zone. Hazlett added another PAT and the Admirals led 14-0 with 3:27 left in the first quarter.

Danville added a touchdown in the second quarter to lead 21-0 at halftime.

The Admirals scored twice in the third quarter to initiate a running clock and tacked on one more TD in the fourth period.

“I knew when I took over three years ago and we had one senior, this is going to be a process that you’ve got to build. You’ve got to take steps along with it,” Garmon said. “For us to get back to the semi-state is a great accomplishment. Only seven teams in our school’s time have made it this far.”

The loss ended the Scotties’ season at 10-4 overall.

“This doesn’t take anything away from our season. We’ve had a great season,” Garmon said.

Glasgow 0 0 0 0 – 0

Danville 14 7 15 7 – 43

First Quarter

D – Dmaurie VanCleave 76 pass from Zach Thornton (Nathan Hazlett kick), 7:01

D – Tanner Ford 12 pass from Thornton (Hazlett kick), 3:27

Second Quarter

D –Donlevy Harris 16 run (Hazlett kick), 11:30

Third Quarter

D – VanCleave 6 run (Hazlett kick), 9:20

D – VanCleave 74 run (David Walker pass from Thornton), 4:12

Fourth Quarter

D – Harris 41 run (Hazlett kick), 9:53