By Brian Pitts
sports@salisburypost.com
MOCKSVILLE — As Reynolds scored on consecutive possessions to trim Davie’s 14-0 lead to 14-13 in the first half, the visiting Demons had swung the momentum squarely to its side.
Then Adam Smith and the War Eagles went out and yanked it right back. And Davie had its way the rest of the way in a 43-13 Homecoming victory in the Central Piedmont Conference opener for both teams.
With the score 14-13 and Davie starting from its 44, quarterback Smith showed off his rushing talent, keeping the ball over right side and darting down the sideline 56 yards for a 21-13 halftime lead.
Smith finished with a game-high 138 rushing yards on seven keepers. Davie’s strength up front was evident all night as the O-line helped Stephon Smoot to 122 yards. Denzel Redmon turned two carries into 55 yards as Davie rushed for 340 yards and only attempted 10 passes.
Davie (5-2 overall) has its longest winning streak (five) in five years. Reynolds fell to 4-3.
“I told (Smith) I’ve been looking for that for several weeks, and it couldn’t have happened at a better time,” Davie coach Doug Illing said. “Adam hit that second gear and was gone.
“The line did a great job of blocking. That’s the pride of our team.”
The War Eagles couldn’t afford a slip-up with road games against West Forsyth and Mt. Tabor coming up, but Reynolds’ ground attack of Damien Booe (101 yards) and Alex Patella (98 yards) produced a flip-a-switch turnaround after Davie had stormed to a 14-0 lead.
Reynolds pulled to 14-13 on a 10-play, all-on-the-ground drive. “(Patella) looked like John Riggins running,” Illing said. “We were bouncing off him, and he was just throwing people off his back.”
But the Davie defense found the resolve to shut down Reynolds from that point on.
“Coach (Devore) Holman and those defensive coaches made some adjustments and shut it off,” Illing said.
Davie started the third quarter on offense and made an eight-play, 68-yard drive look easy. Redmon’s 22-yard pickup was the first of eight straight running plays, Smith scored from the 3 and Landon Hurt’s two-point run gave Davie a 29-13 cushion.
Jamal Lackey crushed Reynolds quarterback Ontario Daniels as he passed, and Redmon intercepted at the Davie 21. Two plays later, Smith ran through the middle and sprinted 70 untouched yards for a 36-13 lead.
Lackey blocked a 38-yard field-goal attempt and Caleb Mathis scooped and scored, motoring 66 yards to cap the scoring.
The game had a bizarre beginning. A.J. Blaskievich picked up a Reynolds fumble on the opening kickoff and walked 5 yards into the end zone for an apparent TD. But an inadvertent whistle forced Davie to re-kick it.
“They thought somebody had fallen on it when the ball was loose on the ground,” Illing said. “It was supposed to be a touchdown.”
Davie shrugged it off and took the 14-0 lead on a 19-yard Smith pass to Johnathan Wiseman and a 33-yard run by Redmon.
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NOTE: Davie travels to arch-rival West Forsyth next week.