By Brian Pitts
sports@salisburypost.com
MOUNT ULLA ó Davie played as if it had heard the world’s greatest pregame speech of all-time and flirted with an improbable win Friday at West Rowan.
The host Falcons overcame deficits of 14-0 and 21-8, survived a 39-36 shootout and avenged their only loss from 2008.
The Falcons survived by a gnat’s eyebrow. Davie just missed a bomb to an open receiver with five minutes to play. Before the game lot of people thought this looked like a sure thing for West (3-0), but Davie (0-3) made dramatic improvement from the first two weeks.
“Another great one,” West coach Scott Young said. “It seems like we always have a good one with them. People were out there making crazy predictions that we were going to walk away with this game. I knew better. You know they’re going to get better. It’s not a matter of if. It’s just a matter of when.”
West prevailed behind clutch performances from established stars such as K.P. Parks (188 yards on 33 carries), B.J. Sherrill (12-for-17 passing for 177 yards) and Jon Crucitti (five catches, 66 yards).
But one of the stars of the show was an unexpected receiver named KaJuan Phillips. He made one clutch catch after another and drew two big pass interference calls in the end zone.
Phillips’ outburst featured five catches for 92 yards, including a 20-yard grab that chopped Davie’s halftime lead to 21-20.
“(The first two games) he had just a couple receptions here and there,” Young said. “He’s just been a good role player and a good blocker. He had a great game. Let’s hope he has many more like this.”
Despite being lackluster the first two games with 14 total points, the War Eagles came out like gangbusters.
Skeeter Montgomery romped 46 yards for a 7-0 Davie lead. Jacob Barber completed a 29-yard pass to Joe Watson for a 14-0 lead. Crucitti’s 8-yard bootleg and Parks’ two-point run made it 14-8, but the Barber-to-Watson connection answered, this time with a hookup of 82 yards for a 21-8 Davie cushion.
West dominated the second quarter, with a nine-play drive pulling the Falcons to 21-14. Sherrill’s 20-yard pass to Phillips made it 21-20. West had extra-point problems all night, missing three of four attempts.
West scored three straight touchdowns, including a 9-yard Crucitti run for a 26-21 West lead, but Davie refused to go away. Barber capped a 65-yard drive with a 7-yard run, giving Davie a 28-26 lead.
Davie’s offense came alive with Montgomery running for 103 yards, Watson making four catches for 123 yards and Barber accounting for 240 yards (190 passing, 50 rushing). Barber was 7-for-9 passing.
“It’s bittersweet,” Davie coach Doug Illing said. “It gives me chills to see the improvement we made from last week to this week.”
The game will go down as another classic in the storied series because both teams kept bouncing back.
Phillips’ 23-yard catch and Parks’ 10-yard run gave West a 32-30 lead. Crucitti’s 28-yard grab on third down set up Parks’ 7-yard score. At 39-28 in West’s favor, it looked as if it was over, but Barber connected for 49 yards with Darius Wilson. Two plays later, Barber scored, then added a two-point run to cut West’s lead to 39-36.
“I think their kids came down here believing they’re going to beat us, and I think our kids have been reading too many press clippings,” Young said. “I don’t want to take away from what they accomplished because they proved tonight they’re a pretty good team.”
Davie’s Teddy Allen recovered a West fumble at the Davie 20. Four plays later, Davie faced fourth-and-18 from its 27. Barber went deep to Jarrett Wallace. He was wide open streaking down the middle at the West 29. But the pass was a tad too long, and an outstretched Wallace crashed to the turf empty-handed.
West had survived.
“I was starting to get flashbacks to some of the other games we’ve had with Davie,” Young said.
Davie walked away with its head up. It limited Parks to six double-figure runs ó the longest was 21 yards.
“We had to stop the run and you’re going to give up that pass,” Illing said. “I hope this will be a stepping stone that will propel us into bigger and better things.”