Rowland finds groove early to lead Charleston

CHARLESTON 34, DANVILLE 23

CHARLESTON — It didn’t take long for Charleston junior quarterback Jackson Rowland to find his groove in his first game back from injury Friday night at Alumni Field.

Jackson finished 24 for 39 passing with 293 yards and two touchdowns along with a rushing score to help lead the way for Charleston in a 34-23 victory against Danville in the opening game of 3A-4 Conference play.

“It was really nice having Jackson back and everything we do offensively goes through him,” Charleston Coach Greg Kendrick said. “We really enjoyed having him back. It gave us a big boost and gave us some momentum.”

Charleston ( 2- 2, 1- 0) scored on five of its six firsthalf drives to take a 34-7 lead into halftime with the help of the passing game.

Danville, which punted twice and turned the ball over during its first three drives of the game, started the game slow offensively and came up short in a second-half comeback attempt.

Charleston, which was shutout in the second half, moved the ball down the field but an interception and turnover on downs opened the door late.

Danville (1-3, 0-1) cut the lead to 34-15 when junior quarterback Jake Madding found Jamey Holbrook for a 48-yard touchdown pass with 4:39 left in the third quarter.

The Little Johns scored on a 34- yard touchdown pass with Madding finding Chris Thurman for a 34-yard touchdown pass. Another two-point conversion made it 34-23 with 9:32 left in the game.

But that was as close as Danville could get as Charleston closed out the game to hold onto the victory.

“They jumped on us and we hadn’t got to see their quarterback on film,” Danville Coach D.J. Crane said. “I can see they are going to be hard to stop with him. But in the second half, our kids played their tails off.”

Madding finished 11 of 24 passing for 161 yards with two touchdowns and added 74 yards rushing on 21 carries with a touchdown.

“Jake played well and we have some good guys around him with his line,” Crane said. “Once we adjusted, I thought we had them on the ropes a little bit. If we could have slowed them down in the first half, this game might have been a different story.”

Holbrook finished with six catches for 103 yards with a touchdown to lead the way for Danville’s wide receivers.

The Charleston offense led by Rowland got going early and was too much for Danville in the first half.

Rowland found wide receiver Sean Michael Flanagan, who finished with 11 catches for 174 yards and a touchdown, early and often to help secure the big lead needed in the second half.

“I really liked what I saw coming out of the game,” Kendrick said.

Charleston running back Wade Gerlick, who had filled in at quarterback the past two weeks, rushed 10 times for 67 yards with a touchdown in the first half.