It wasn’t the stuff of which a lot of highlight films will be made, but Davie County performed well enough Friday to stop South Iredell 28-3 in the Central Piedmont 4A Conference opener for both schools.
“I think it says something for our program that we didn’t play as well as we could and we still held ’em to under hundred yards rushing,” said Davie linebacker Patrick Lowery, who blocked a first-quarter punt and led a defensive squad that limited the Vikings to just 77 yards on the ground.
South didn’t fare a lot better in the air, completing only 3 of 10 passes for 30 yards. The Vikings’ lone score came toward the end of the first half when South’s Tommy Martin intercepted a Dan Sullivan pass at Davie’s 36-yard line.
South managed a couple of first downs before Marshall Hitchcock booted a 30-yard field goal as time expired.
It was the bright spot of the night as far as South (2-5, 0-1) was concerned, though Davie’s own offense misfired more than once.
“Maybe the week off hurt us,” said Sullivan, Davie’s quarterback who was anything but bad in a 9-for-13 showing that included a 34-yard strike to Jason Hogue in the third quarter that punched the War Eagles’ lead to 21-3.
Davie (6-1, 1-0) had a bye last week after falling 6-3 to Morganton Freedom the previous Friday.
“The good thing about this team is that we strive for perfection,” Sullivan continued. “We’re capable of more than we showed tonight, we know that. But we still feel we played well.”
For the night, the War Eagles finished with 296 yards of offense, 156 of which came on the ground.
They converted 16 first downs to South’s eight.
Lowery’s punt block came on South’s first possession and the War Eagles took over at the Vikings’ 25. But their offense sputtered, Doug Smith being dropped for a 2-yard loss on fourth-and-2 at the Vikings’ 17.
South couldn’t move the ball on its next possession and punted, leading to an 86-yard scoring drive by the War Eagles. Mike Clement carried the final 18 yards for a 7-0 Davie lead.
The War Eagles boosted their advantage to 14-0 on their next possession, driving 70 yards on 10 plays with Neil Rice scoring from the 2.
Included on that drive was a bit of razzle-dazzle when wide receiver Hogue took a reverse from Sullivan, then pulled up and let sail with a 22-yard pass to Jacob Garner.
“Oh, that was a lot of fun,” Hogue giggled at game’s end. “I love to throw the ball.”
In addition to his passing duties, Hogue was also on the receiving end of seven strikes from Sullivan.
“We weren’t as sharp as we are some nights,” Hogue admitted. “But I still thought it was one of our better team efforts. We wanted to put the loss to Freedom behind us.”
Davie coach Doug Illing said there were things about the game he didn’t like, but said he was impressed with his defense.
“They’ve been our strength all year,” he said. “Our offense might have been a little rusty, but our defense couldn’t have played a lot better.”
South coach Kent Millsaps said Davie impressed him.
“Our kids played as gutsy as they possibly could,” he said. “I’m proud of the effort, we just got a little out-muscled in there.”
Contact Steve Huffman at 704-797-4247 or shuffman@salisburypost.com
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