High school football: Davie scores 60, hammers Falcons

Published 7:16 pm Saturday, August 26, 2023

 

By Mike London

mike.london@salisburypost.com

MOUNT ULLA — Three touchdowns in two and a half minutes.

It was a sizzling scoring spree by Davie County’s football team late in the first half on Friday night.

Davie used that ferocious flurry to break open what had been a typical, tight Davie-West Rowan struggle up to that point. In those 150 seconds of mayhem, Davie went from trailing 14-13 to leading 33-14.

The War Eagles (1-1) went on to bury the Falcons 60-28 in the latest installment of a rivalry that began the year that West opened — 1959.

Davie hadn’t scored 60 against West since the 1965 seas0n — Randall Ward’s glory days in Mocksville — when Davie smashed the Falcons 63-7.

“The way the first half ended was hard to overcome,” West head coach Louis Kraft said. “That and Davie’s onside kicks. Brutal! Still, I do like our guys. We’ve just got to stop beating ourselves.”

When West (0-2) edged Davie 35-34 in a thriller last fall, West’s Luke Graham (388 passing yards) and Evan Kennedy (227 receiving yards) broke school records.

West was on the wrong end of record-setting on Friday. Davie QB Ty Miller had seven touchdown passes, spread among four different receivers.  Miller was 19-for-40 for 325 yards. He accounted for an eighth touchdown with a run to close Davie’s scoring with 7:21 left in the game.

West did pick off two aerials, with Tyrin Little and Aubree Robinson credited with the interceptions.

West got a strong game from running back Jaylen Neely. He had 25 carries for 140 yards. He sprinted for two touchdowns and scored a 2-point conversion.

Believe it or not, the first six minutes were scoreless. West lost a fumble on the first snap, but West’s defense stopped Davie on downs at the West 9.

A bad snap on a punt attempt handed Davie the ball back at the West 20, and this time the War Eagles cashed in. It was Miller to Braddock Coleman for a 19-yard score.

West answered with Neely’s first touchdown to make it 6-all, but Miller threw an 8-yard scoring pass to Leon Bradshaw late in the first quarter for a 13-6 Davie lead.

Kennedy scored his first TD of the season on a 2-yard run midway through the second quarter, and Neely took an option pitch to the end zone to add two points for a 14-13 West lead. That was high tide for the Falcons, who were inundated with Davie TDs over the next few minutes.

Miller hit a long one to Ethan Driver — 64 yards — to put Davie in front 20-14.

Then Davie surprised West with a successful onside kick, and Miller and Coleman went back to work. Their 38-yard connection put the War Eagles on top 26-14 with 2:48 left in the first half. Coleman broke several tackles on his way to the end zone.

Davie got the ball back, and Miller hit Evan York for a 33-yard touchdown with 53 seconds left in the half. That was a backbreaker.

There was  no West comeback in the second half. Miller threw touchdown passes in the third quarter to Bradshaw and Driver to stretch Davie’s lead to 47-14.

Neely broke a 43-yard run to briefly make it 47-21, but Davie answered a little more than two minutes later when Markel Summers (104 rushing yards) scored on the ground.

Both teams added a fourth-quarter score. Miller got his rushing TD, while West got a TD from jayvee running back Cooper Martin.

•••

NOTES: West lost senior offensive lineman Tyler Cline to a fractured ankle in the first quarter. He’ll miss the rest of his senior season … It doesn’t get any easier for West next week when coach Joe Nixon’s Mooresville squad visits. Mooresville (2-0) beat Davie in Week 1. … Davie will be favored by a lot when it hosts North Davidson next week. The Black Knights (0-2) haven’t scored so far.

 

Stats

Davie               13  20  20  7 – 60
West Rowan    6    8    7    7 – 28

First Quarter
D – Coleman 19 pass from Miller (kick fail), 5:26.
WR – Neely 11 run (kick fail), 2:02.
D – Bradshaw 8 pass from Miller (McCall kick), :53.
Second Quarter
WR – Kennedy 2 run (Neely run), 4:46.
D – Driver 64 pass from Miller (McCall kick), 3:27.
D – Coleman 38 pass from Miller (kick fail), 2:48.
D – York 33 pass from Miller (McCall kick), :53.
Third Quarter
D – Bradshaw 1 pass from Miller (McCall kick), 10:03.
D – Driver 24 pass from Miller (McCall kick), 7:11.
WR – Neely 43 run (Durant kick), 3:46.
D – Summers 24 run (run fail), 1:11.
Fourth Quarter
D – Miller 11 run (McCall kick), 7:21.
WR – Martin 3 run (Durant kick), 2:50.

TEAM STATISTICS
D               WR
Rushing    36-145    48-221
Passing    325            100

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
Davie
RUSHING – Summers 17-104, Romero 11-55, Whittington 3-8, team 1-(-10), Miller 4-(-12)
PASSING – Miller 19-40-2-325
RECEIVING – Coleman 7-143, Driver 4-109, York 3-55, Bradshaw 3-16, Summers 1-1, Deal 1-1
West Rowan
RUSHING – Neely 25-140, Kennedy 10-60, Martin 7-18, Tucker 2-18, Graham 2-5, Feaster 1-1, team 1-(-21)
PASSING – Graham 7-23-1-79, Tucker 1-1-0-21
RECEIVING – Kennedy 3-37, Loeblein 2-24, Athey 1-21, Feaster 1-11, Kirk 1-7