Davie opened a 20-0 in the second quarter of the nonconference affair, but by the beginning of the fourth it was down to 20-6 and coach Raymond Daugherty’s Hornets were alive and on the move. And when quarterback Terry Johnson hit Ken Drye with a fourth-down pass to keep a drive alive, the Hornets home hive began buzzing for the first time all season.

The Hornets pushed all the way to the Davie 1. There, on third-and-goal, Johnson surged forward on a sneak for an apparent touchdown that would have sliced Davie’s edge to 20-12.

Johnson thought he had gotten the ball to the end zone. “According to Terry he was in,” said Daugherty. “He said he got in.”

Johnson tried again to sneak the ball in on fourth-and-goal, but this time there was no question. A host of War Eagles, led by defensive end Bradford Ivey, halted the quarterback in his tracks, a good foot short of the Promised Land.

“We would have loved to go with the tailback (Drye) in that situation,” said Daugherty, “but when the nose of the football is on the goal line, you don’t take it off the line of scrimmage.”

The controversial goal-line stand by the War Eagles gave them the ball on downs.

Two plays later, Davie’s star running back, Ricky White, who had 209 rushing yards, put the demoralized Hornets down for the count.

White took a toss sweep to the right and taking full advantage of a key block by Thadd Johnson, bolted 98 yards for a highlight film touchdown.

“I saw No. 6 (Salisbury’s Stephen Blanton) coming up behind me, but I just turned it up,” said White. “ I think that play broke their spirit some.”

“It was dangerous to toss the ball in our end zone like that,” added Davie coach Doug Illing, when asked about White’s back-breaking jaunt. “But we practice it, and you’ve gotta have confidence in what you practice. The best thing was that we finally saw that fourth gear from Ricky that we haven’t seen. He showed people he’s still got some speed.”

It was all Davie early, with White scoring on a 1-yard run on the War Eagles’ first possession and Mikey Arnold scooping up a fumbled punt after their second possession for an easy score that made it 13-0.

White scored on an 8-yard run early in the second quarter to boost the bulge to 20-0, but at that point, the Hornets decided to roll back instead of rolling over.

Johnson led the Hornets on a 65-yard, 13-play drive that resulted in only their third TD of the season, cutting the deficit to 20-6. Johnson’s 23-yard pass to Blanton kept that drive going. Johnson finished it himself with a 2-yard dive.

On that drive and throughout a scoreless third quarter, the Hornets put together a running game for the first time all season. The key was Ken Drye, who moved to tailback late in last week’s loss to South Rowan.

Drye, a bruiser, starched Davie’s stiff defense for 90 yards in 23 carries.

“Drye’s a player,” said Davie assistant Devore Holman. “He can run.”

“Drye ran hard,” agreed Daugherty. “He’s good and we’ll be giving it to him a lot more.”

Davie tacked on a late score on a run by reserve Jared Vaughters for the misleading 34-6 final, but there was no question that the lowly Hornets had given the high-flying War Eagles all they wanted on a night that was supposed to be a blowout. Some had suggested it might even be a payback parade for the 64-0 whipping Salisbury laid on Davie a few years ago.

But the Hornets were better than advertised. A lot better.

“Salisbury has a good team,” said Davie defensive end Adam Boger. “We didn’t overlook them because they’ve got some good athletes. It came down to those plays on the goal-line. That’s where we bowed our backs and stepped up and got the job done.”

Salisbury didn’t quite get it done last night, but they’re getting closer.

“We’re playing better,” said Daugherty. “This was our best offensive game. I couldn’t help but be proud of the way we didn’t fold the tent when we got down.

“Still, we’re looking for wins — not moral victories. And there’s no better time to start than next week.”

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