“We knew we could win,” said coach Raymond Daugherty.

So why didn’t they?

That’s what Daugherty was trying to figure out after Lexington came into Ludwig Stadium and ruined Homecoming, 21-12.

“We kept shooting ourselves in the foot,” he said after watching Salisbury fall to 0-7. “We had every opportunity to win this ballgame. We just didn’t execute.”

Lexington (2-4-1) avenged last year’s loss to the Hornets — Salisbury’s only victory in a 1-10 season.

“I guess this is payback for last year when we beat them on their Homecoming,” sighed a tired Ken Drye.

“Believe it or not, we didn’t even bring that up,” said Lexington coach Avery Cutshaw citing he had other things to worry about. “Salisbury is a very athletic team. They have athletes who can do a lot of things.”

Especially Drye, who scored both Salisbury touchdowns. He picked off a tipped pass and ran in from 19 yards for a quick lead and then gave Salisbury a 12-7 advantage when he ran an interception 37 yards to the Yellow Jacket eight, setting up his own score.

But the Hornets struggled throughout the second half offensively, relying on the defense to continuously come up with the big plays.

The last came with seven minutes left and Lexington up 14-12. On a fourth-and-one, Jacket tailback Bobby Wagner was stuffed by Stephen Blanton for a loss of six.

With the Homecoming crowd buzzing, Salisbury took over on their own 47.

Three plays later, quarterback Terry Johnson threw a perfect pass over the middle to Willie Hosch for a 30-yard gain to the Lexington 21.

Daugherty could sense victory. “We already had Patrick May with his tee,” he said.

But in this woulda-shoulda-coulda game, the Hornets just didn’t pull it off. One play after Hosch’s catch, Lexington’s Chris Sean picked off his third Johnson pass of the night with 4:08 left.

“That third interception was my fault,” said Johnson. “I didn’t take my time and relax. Irushed it.”

Wagner then sealed things with a 60-yard scoring run with 1:59 left.

Until that point, Wagner had 25 carries for 33 yards. He was dropped for losses 12 times. Which all made it so much more frustrating for Salisbury.

“You’ve got to fight for 48 minutes,” said Johnson, who finished 9-of-27 for 107 yards but was harassed throughout the second half by the onrushing Lexington defense. We didn’t play well offensively.”

“We didn’t sack him a lot,” said Cutshaw, “but we put pressure on him. And our secondary made great plays.”

So did Drye. Dewayne Coward tipped an early Terrance Partee’s third pass of the game into Drye’s hands at the 19 and and he went all the way.

“I was determined to get in,” Drye said. “I ran as hard as I could and plowed my way in.”

But Salisbury was flagged for celebrating the touchdown and forced May to try a 35-yard extra point, which missed.

After Drye’s second pickoff, Daugherty rewarded him by letting him run up the middle. It took only one play as Drye bulled in from eight yards out and then virtually collapsed on the sidelines where he watched Johnson’s conversion run fail.

“I felt like I needed an oxygen tank,” he whewed.

But that was it for the Hornet offense. After Lexington scored on its opening drive of the third quarter behind freshman quarterback Corey Holt, that was all for the Jackets too until Wagner’s late run.

The third quarter was an effort in futility as both teams went backwards more often than they went forward. During the excruciating 12 minutes, Lexington rushed for a net five yards. Salisbury ran for minus-22.

The defenses took over. DeMarcus Davidson was constantly chasing Holt. Darren Lasco recovered a fumble. Coward, Hosch and Justin Johnson played well in the secondary.

But it just wasn’t to be. And even more depressing is that Salisbury is heading to highly-ranked High Point Central next week.

“From all that I’ve heard, that’s the best team in the state, regardless of classification,” Daugherty said.