Nightmare on ACE Lane: Dublin DBs terrorize Gryphons again with four picks in three-phase bloodbath

The ACE Gryphons weren’t hoping to relive the memory of their visit to the Shamrock Bowl in 2024, when Dublin’s secondary had one of its biggest nights in recent history with five interceptions that served as a rude introduction between new region rivals. 

The Irish brought the same horror show to Perkins Field – nearly duplicating the feat with four picks, but also topping it with returns of two for touchdowns – as they paid their second-straight visit and claimed a biggest win so far in the now-well acquainted teams’ three-year series Friday night. 

Dublin, with just as dominant a performance by its offense and special teams unit, took ACE as its third region victim in the 60-14 massacre. 

Kye Young, who was in on one of the beforementioned takeaways two seasons back, reprised his role with another in the sequel, while new villains JaKarian Jones and Trav Bostic took over the mantle of the now-graduated D.J. Woodard, Sirius Tobridge and Micah O’Neal in putting a new twist on the familiar plot for Gryphons’ third-year quarterback Ace Hatcher. 

The senior, this time, was much more wary of taking the deep shots the Irish preyed on two years ago, focusing instead on shorter, higher-percentage routes on screens and swing passes to the perimeter. But Dublin defenders were lurking around those corners, as well. 

Jones jumped a weakly-thrown bubble ball to get his first of two, and set up a third Irish touchdown of the opening quarter. He had been sitting on another intended for Brady Balkcom as ACE’s best drive so far threatened points in the red zone just after their fourth to go up 27-0, and picked off the wheel for a 92-yard return that made the lead 33. 

Two more came in the running-clock second half as Young brought one in off a set of Gryphon hands, and outran Hatcher the remaining 47 yards to a second-straight pick-six, and Trav Bostic was forced out of bounds by Jedd Kenley a few steps from a potential third after ripping one away from a receiver. 

There was some non-offensive scoring on special teams, too. 

Jamarcus Knight returned a second-quarter kickoff – following ACE’s first of two touchdowns – 90 yards to re-establish that early five-score lead. 

The Dublin offense, just as unfettered, produced the remaining six TDs on rushes by a range of backs: Bostic and Dontavious Cannon scoring twice, and Knight and Jaydon McRae once apiece. 

Seven carriers combined for 233 yards, with Ryland Yates adding a 15-yard completion to Will Wallace on his only attempt for the balance of the offensive total. 

Knight posted six carries for 97, V.J. Bond added a 60-yard single and Bostic toted seven times for 41 to lead the backfield. 

Dominant, from drive 1…

The Irish (6-1 overall) took the football first and opened the game with a 60-yard scoring drive laden with highlight runs by Knight, Bostic and McRae, who had the score from a yard out. 

ACE took two shots and a sack, then punted it back for a two-play trip concluding on a 43-yard Knight jet sweep. 

A penalized point-after drifted wide, but Dublin’s lead was 13-0. 

The Irish cashed in the Jones interception on its first play, running a speed option pitch from Yates that Bostic took the opposite direction of the play for a 17-yard score. Knight ran for two to recoup the lost point, and it was 21-0. 

The Gryphons picked up a little offensive steam with a few first downs in response, but got off track after Hatcher lost his helmet and had to leave the game for the early portion of a series that wound up in a fourth-and-long. 

Their final play of the sequence, much like an elaborate flea flicker a play or two earlier, ended in an incompletion. 

Dublin mixed it up on a roughly 65-yard drive back the other way, and scored for a fourth time just before the end of the first on a 10-yard jaunt by Cannon. 

ACE finally found the scoreboard on a 21-yard strike from Hatcher to Jaylon Davis to recover some distant comeback hopes just after the Jones pick-six. 

But Knight’s response on the kickoff – and a Yates run for two to make the score 41-7 – sent the game back on its snowball’s course entering the half. 

Young’s pick-six came on a Gryphon fourth-and-one at the start of the third. Ghosts from the secondary gave Hatcher a break on the next ACE possession, though a ghoul descended from the frightful Irish defensive line in the form of Bond to sack him for a massive loss early on the first series. 

Balkcom’s contested catch salvaged the drive, which would continue on to find the end zone as Peyton Burden evaded defenders on a screen that went 38 yards for a catch-and-run touchdown. 

Once again, Dublin’s reply was immediate. Bond took the first carry of the ensuing possession 48 yards around the left-hand side, and two short Bostic runs yielded six more points just after the start of the fourth to make it 53-14. 

Cannon scored just after Bostic’s INT for the parting shot.