The War Eagles reached that lofty plateau by manhandling North Iredell 37-8 in Olin on Friday night.

It was an impressive display by the War Eagles, who had relied primarily on their defense the first two weeks, but finally showed off some offensive weaponry in Week 3.

Quarterback Drew Ridenhour, quiet in War Eagle wins over Statesville and Mooresville, took the gloves off for 120 yards through the air, including a 65-yard strike to Rod Tenor for his first TD aerial of the campaign.

“It felt good to finally get one under my belt,” said the 6-4 Ridenhour, a heavily recruited senior who also stars on the baseball diamond. “We’ve been wanting to show what we had.”

The War Eagle ground game was sparked again by Ricky White. The hard-nosed senior enjoyed his second straight fabulous Friday with 100 yards and three TDs.

Davie opened the scoring with 3:38 left in the first quarter on a 10-yard run by White.

Then Ridenhour and Tenor made some sweet music, hooking up on a third-and-8 play to make it 14-0.

“We saw early we could beat them deep,” said Davie coach Doug Illing.

North Iredell (1-2) fought back to make it 14-8, but White found the end zone for the second time just before the half, again from 10 yards out. Then “White Lightning” added a two-point conversion for a 22-8 lead.

Davie ended any comeback hopes still being entertained by the homestanding Raiders in the opening moments of the third quarter when Zeke Earle stunned everyone in Olin by faking a punt from his own 22 and setting sail on a 78-yard dash to the promised land.

“I saw on an earlier punt that the right side was wide open,” said Earle, who has the green light from Illing to make things happen when he sees an opportunity. “I really don’t know if I was supposed to go from there or not. Hey, how far did you say I went?”

Far enough to put the game away.

Earle’s pearl and a Nick Propst to Tenor two-point conversion pass moments later made it 30-8 and broke the spirit of the Raiders, who didn’t contend again.

Davie tacked on its final score with more than 15 minutes remaining on a 1-yard plunge by White, and then called off the offensive dogs and let its ferocious defense, which has allowed only 21 points in three games, finish things off.

“Good teams take care of business and we did that tonight,” said a pleased Illing. “We wanted to make a statement that we’re a good team.”