Danville QB Dallas McAbee looks for a receiver while under the rush of Clements’ Colton Kimbrough. | Clif Knight

Danville’s Hawks showed a mixed bag of good and bad things as they fell to the Clements Colts, 31-26, in a jamboree game at Smith-Owens Stadium Friday night.

The upside was their offense moved the ball consistently when both varsity and junior varsity players were on the field. Combined, they accounted for 320 yards, with 249 yards coming on the ground. Defensively, they forced two fumbles, picked off a pass and returned it for a touchdown and made eight tackles behind the line of scrimmage for losses totaling 26 yards.

The downside was their defense allowed the Colts’ offense to pile up 405 yards rushing. The lion’s share of the total was the result of running back Hakeem Redus’s quick feet and blazing speed. He gained 300 yard rushing on seven carries and scored four touchdowns.

“We weren’t aware of this kid’s speed and he made our defense look bad,” said Danville head coach Scott Curd. “But we didn’t approach this game as a must win. “ We wanted to see how our players would respond under game conditions and use it as a reaching tool.

“We’ll work all next week to correct the mistakes and get better. We play Randolph Friday night in our first game. That’s when it counts.”

Curd said the Hawks improved from their last scrimmage.

“I thought we showed great intensity at times and I liked the way our players responded to adversity,” he said. “They could’ve quit near the end after Clements scored to go ahead but they didn’t. They drove the ball down the field and came within a couple of yards of scoring and winning the game.”

The Hawks went up 6-0 on a 34-yard touchdown pass from Dallas McAbee to Brett Bowling with 8:08 left in the first quarter.

The Colts answered with a 70-yard touchdown run by Redus to tie the score at 6-all.

A fumble recovery by James Legg led to Danville’s second score. Drake converted a first down play into a 25-yard touchdown run and Noah Hogan kicked the extra point to make the score 13-6.

Redus answered with a 7-yard touchdown run to cut the Hawks’ lead to 12-12 with 5:22 left in the first period,

The Hawks upped their lead to 20-12 when Isaiah Moore picked off a Clements pass and returned it 30 yards for a touchdown with 11:30 left in the first half.

Redus responded by scoring his third touchdown from 70 yards out and Christian Wilson added the extra point to make the score 20-19 in Danville’s favor.

Redus scored again on a 57-yard run with 6:02 left in the second quarter to give his team a 25-20 halftime lead.

With junior varsity players on the field in the second half, the Hawks put together a 41-yard touchdown drive to regain the lead. Colton McCoy capped the drive with a 10-yard run to make the score 26-25.

Clements regained the lead at 31-26 with 3:12 left on a 12-yard run by Isaiah Free.

The Hawks marched 68 yards on seven plays and reached the two-yard line before turning the ball over on downs with 30 seconds left. QB Landis Tidwell led the drive with 31 yards rushing on three carries.

The Hawks will host Randolph in a non-region game Fri., Aug. 30, at 7 p.m.