Western Boone Jr. - Sr. High School

DANVILLE - The Western Boone football team had chances on Friday night when they traveled to Danville to take on the Warriors. But when it came down to cashing in on those opportunities, the Stars were unable to deliver. Western Boone came up empty on two possessions inside the Danville 10 yard line, and ultimately lost 21-7 to the Warriors. "We had a lot of chances, and it comes down to who can make a yard and we couldn't make a yard," Western Boone head coach Justin Pelley said. "We got it down there twice, and they stopped us. We tried to go outside, inside, behind our best guys and their guys were better than ours tonight." The first time came late in the first half with the Stars trailing 14-7. Western Boone had a long punt return, and after a first down pass to Marcus Fortner and a penalty, had the ball at the Danville 13. But after a run down to the six yard line, Western Boone couldn't convert on three-straight running plays and turned it over on downs. Danville went up 21-7 on the opening drive of the second half. After the teams traded possessions, Western Boone had a chance to cut into the lead thanks to another long punt return. But after getting it down to the 1 yard line, the Stars couldn't punch it in. Pelley said he wasn't sure immediately after the game what went wrong on those plays, just knows it has to be cleaned up quickly. "We have to watch the film and see," Pelley said. "We have a lot of guys playing in a lot of different places right now, and we have to figure out what is the best way for us to move the football, because we aren't doing our job right now offensively. Football is a three-phase game and I thought our defense matched their intensity, I thought our special teams was better than theirs and our offense let us down tonight." The Western Boone special teams was a major bright spot for the Stars in the game, and gave the team a chance when they couldn't consistently move the ball. Down 7-0 after Danville scored on their opening drive of the game, Mason Tomes had a 90-yard kickoff return for a touchdown to get WeBo on the board. Add that to Fortner having punt returns of 31 and 34 yards to give the Stars opportunities. "We work on that all week and it's a lot of the same kids," Pelley said. "When you get the ball in their hands good things happen and it helps. But if we can't get the ball in their hands offensively and they are better than us up front trying to get outside and if we can't protect him in the back it's going to be a long night." Danville scored twice in the first quarter, then had a long run on the opening drive of the third quarter to set up a touchdown to go up 21-7. Western Boone held them scoreless from there, but couldn't get a score in the second half to give themselves a chance late. "They are a good football team," Pelley said of Danville. "They got good size and speed on the outside. Their quarterback does a good job of throwing it up to their guys. They just had more than we did tonight." Western Boone will look to regroup when they host Lebanon next Friday night. The Tigers have won back-to-back games. "We have to regroup tomorrow, watch the film and see what happens," Pelley said. "We have to make sure we have guys in the right spot to move the ball and move the chains to help out our defense." Will Willems is the Sports Editor of the Lebanon Reporter. Follow him on Twitter @Will_Willems.