By Mike London
mike.london@salisburypost.com

MOCKSVILLE  — West Rowan’s defense keyed a 25-8 win at Davie on Monday.

With their best defensive effort in the long-running series in a long time, the Falcons picked off four passes and made the War Eagles one-dimensional by erasing Davie’s running game.

West had a 237 to 16 advantage in net rushing yards.

“We didn’t execute great on offense, but we had a dominating defensive effort,” West head coach Louis Kraft said.

Davie had a dismal night on third-down conversions (3-for-12) and was held to single-digit points for the first time in 66 games.

Kevin Toomer had two sacks, adding to his impressive career total. Zitayvion Rucker was a roadblock at the nose. Linebacker Kaden Sanders stood out.

Israel Ford, Tallon Blackwell, Trent Gaines and Lucas Watts made the interceptions.

Bouncing back from a loss to A.L. Brown, West (1-1) scored first on a 42-yard pass from Brant Graham to Evan Kennedy.

Davie answered with a 2-yard scoring run by sophomore Braxton Bowling, and a 2-point conversion run by Leon Bradshaw gave the War Eagles an 8-7 lead after a quarter.

But West’s defense pitched a shutout the rest of the way.

West reclaimed the lead on a 4-yard scoring run by Jaylen Neely 20 seconds before halftime. Brant Graham’s 2-point conversion made it 15-8 at the break.

Kennedy broke a 45-yard scoring run in the third quarter for a 22-8 edge.

Carter Durant kicked two PATs and was successful on a 37-yard field goal with about five minutes left for the final margin.

Kennedy, a versatile Division I prospect who set a school single-game receiving record against Davie with 227 yards as a sophomore, may post some 100/100 games this year. He had 94 rushing yards on 10 carries and five catches for 81 receiving yards.

Neely was the workhorse for West’s offense for the second straight week, getting 132 yards on 28 carries.

Graham threw three interceptions, but he passed for 142 yards.

Aiden Hall threw for 182 yards for the War Eagles (0-2).

It wasn’t a perfect effort by the Falcons, who were penalized 11 times, but a road win against a good 4A program and a rival is always a positive.

“We missed some easy third-down throws and had some bad execution at times,  but we had good success overall,” Kraft said. “When you win at Davie on an off-schedule night, you take it and you run with it.”

West has a challenging trip to Mooresville (1-1) coming up on Friday. Davie has a good chance for its first win at North Davidson (0-2).