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MOCKSVILLE — After a sorrowful 4-7 2000 season in which it so often found ways to lose, Davie County’s War Eagles are now finding ways to bruise.
And cruise.
The War Eagles, preseason favorites in the 4A Central Piedmont Conference, showed everyone exactly why on Friday night with a punishing 27-14 showdown triumph over South Rowan.
At one point, Davie led 27-0, as its good-as-advertised defensive unit stopped South Rowan’s running game cold. The Raiders’ ground attack was limited to a dismal 40 yards in 39 attempts.
“Davie’s defense was by far the best we’ve seen this year. No doubt about that,” said South coach Rick Vanhoy. “They’ve got a kid in the middle (linebacker Patrick Lowery) who’s a high school All-American and then you look at people like (Sam) Stovall on that defensive line.
“That defense is going to carry Davie a long way.”
The flip side of the upfront story went Davie’s way too.
With linemen Chris Nichols and Dave Poplin controlling the right side, War Eagle backs Mike Clement (191 yards) and Neil Rice (91) ran wild. It was Clement’s third 100-yard game against South and his fourth against Rowan teams. He had 131 against West earlier this season.
Davie’s now 8-1 overall and 3-0 in the conference, while South, which opened 3-0, fell to 5-4 and 2-1 in the CPC.
“Winning this one is big, it’s huge,” said Davie coach Doug Illing. “It’s one more goal accomplished. And we avenged one more loss from last year.”
“We’re not dead yet. We’re still breathing,” said Vanhoy.
He’s right. South, which didn’t roll over when things could have gotten really ugly, is still in good shape for the playoffs if it wins its next two.
But it couldn’t win this manic game that included a combined 10 turnovers — five each way — and two blocked kicks.
“This game was just crazy,” said Illing. “We were fortunate that our defense kept giving our offense a chance to redeem itself. I can’t say enough about our defense.”
South got the initial break when Dale Rice recovered a fumble, but Davie’s defense held on a Ben Allred sack, then Billy Riddle blocked the Raiders’ field goal try.
Davie’s first score came after Raider punter Patrick Edwards bobbled a snap and Davie’s Timmy Redmond scooped the ball up on the run and took it all the way.
That play seemed to set the tone for the night. When the Raiders have struggled this season, it seems that turnovers are always the culprit.
“We focus on turnovers, we talk about them,” said Vanhoy. “Maybe we’re talking about it too much. But what can you do?”
Clement, who feared he might not get many carries after an early fumble, got back in his coaches’ good graces when he broke loose for a 30-yard scoring run late in the first quarter for a 14-0 edge.
Neither team scored in the second quarter.
Then Davie used more defense for a 21-0 lead, as the ever-present Allred wrestled the ball away from a South receiver at the Raider 11 to set up a scoring plunge by Rice.
A pair of third-quarter field goals by kicker David Wooldridge built the War Eagle lead to 27-0. Wooldridge knocked through boots of 32 and 39 yards and is now 9-for-9 on field goal tries of under 40 yards.
“He’s a real weapon,” said Vanhoy. “You can’t let Davie inside your 40 or they score. Most high school teams you figure you can stop them at the 25 or the 30.”
Wooldridge mashed all his kickoffs out of the end zone when he had the wind at his back, but after his second field goal, his against-the-wind kick landed in the arms of South return man Brad Lanning at the Raider 1 and the senior speedster raced a school-record 99 yards to put South on the board.
South added its final touchdown when Brandon Yow, who hauled in a career-best eight passes, pulled in a 14-yard TD toss from sophomore Hoke Shirley. Yow, who came within two catches of Adrian Parker’s single-game school record for receptions, accounted for 98 of South’s 137 passing yards.
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