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MOCKSVILLE — When Davie County and West Forsyth get together in 4A Central Piedmont Conference football, it’s always the equivalent of a Duke-Carolina game.
That’s Duke-Carolina basketball — not football.
Friday night was just one more colossal clash in the series with the visiting Titans stopping the War Eagles 17-10 in the long-awaited CPC opener for both teams. It was a huge, defensive-minded revenge win for the Titans over their biggest rival and was especially sweet for Titan coach Russell Stone, because his charges fell to the War Eagles in overtime in 1999 in Clemmons.
Injuries played a critical role in the demise of Davie (3-5 overall), which went unbeaten in the CPC last season. Davie lost offensive lineman, Andrew Rudy, the team’s senior rock, and fullback Justin Goode in the first half. Goode sprained an ankle at the end of a 45-yard run, while Rudy tore his MCL. Without them Davie’s offense ground to a halt. Davie’s next eight offensive plays after losing Goode netted negative yardage.
“It hurt to lose Goode. When he went out we were moving the ball up and down the field,” said War Eagle coach Doug Illing. “That took a critical dimension away from us.”
West scored first on a field goal but Davie came right back to tie on a three-pointer by David Wooldridge following Goode’s big run.
“But it hurt to settle for just three points there,” said Illing. “We were down close with four downs to go.”
Davie hung in despite its offensive struggles and was still down just 9-3 at the half, as its hard-hitting defense limited the Titans (4-3) to another pair of field goals.
In the second half, Davie’s defense forced a pair of fumbles, but the offense failed to capitalize on either occasion.
Finally, late in the third quarter, Davie broke through, taking advantage of a bad snap over the Titan punter’s head to assume possession deep in Titan territory. From there, Davie punched in a touchdown, with Rod Tenor taking a 9-yard flip from Dan Sullivan for the tally. Wooldridge’s PAT was perfect for a 10-9 Davie lead.
When the Davie defense followed the go-ahead score with yet another stop — forcing a punt — the War Eagles seemed to be in firm control of the game and had all the momentum. But Nick Propst muffed the punt and the Titans recovered at the Davie 31. From there, West marched for a decisive touchdown and subsequent two-point conversion to make it 17-10.
Davie never threatened after that. Its last two possessions died at its own 27 and 35 as the clock ticked down the final painful minutes.
“Propst was just trying to make a great play on that punt,” sighed Illing. “He made a mistake. It happens. But the punt deflated us. Unfortunately, it came at a really critical time in the game. It’s just a shame to lose this one, because our defense played so good.”
“It’s a real tough one,” said Davie linebacker Neil Rice. “We practiced so hard this week, wanted to win this one so bad on our home field. And when it was 10-9, we felt good. But that’s assuming no mistakes.”
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NOTES:Injuries have been painful for the War Eagles this season. Illing is yet to have his 11 projected starters on offense on the field at the same time.
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