Cardinal again on wrong end of close game with Danville

ELDON ? The ball slipped out of the hands of the Cardinal football team, and ultimately, so did the game.

Three second-half fumbles were recovered by Danville, and gave the Bears enough breathing room to take a 10-7 victory from Cardinal to open the 2010 season.

To make matters worse, the three fumbles all came in the span of 13 plays and deep in the Comets? territory. But even while put in some precarious situations, the Cardinal defense performed admirably.

From a 0-0 third-quarter tie, the first Cardinal fumble set Danville up at the 9-yard line going in, but the Comet defense held strong and forced them to four plays and out. The Bears picked up another fumble on Cardinal?s next possession, again inside the 20-yard line and again Cardinal defense came up with a stop. Danville ended up kicking a field goal to make the score 3-0.

?The defense stopped them seven times in a row deep in our own territory, so defensively, we played well,? said Cardinal head coach Darren Hill. ?We just made too many mistakes to win.?

Tanner Chance led the defense with 10 tackles followed by Joel Ramos, Josh Fuhs and Joe Olson each with eight. Ramos also came down with an interception.

Danville finally broke through for what proved to be the game-winning touchdown, and Cardinal quarterback Brandon Warren, who led the team with 64 yards on 17 carries, put the Comets on the scoreboard in the fourth quarter.

?We would miss a block, or have someone go to the wrong spot, so offensively we were just too inconsistent to get anything going,? Hill said. ?But we have several new lineman out there ? we?ll get it.?

Warren also completed 8-of-19 passes for 64 yards while Tanner Chance rushed for 18 yards on five carries and completed his only pass attempt to Warren for a big 42-yard gain.

Class A Danville, a district opponent for Cardinal a year ago, also bested Cardinal by just three points last fall with a 23-20 victory.

The Comets hope to even its record to 1-1 next Friday with a trip to Winfield-Mount Union for the final non-district contest.