By Brian Pitts
sports@salisburypost.com
MOCKSVILLE — Judging from the first two games, the West Rowan Falcons might be better named the ‘85 Bears.
Both offenses struggled mightily last night in the annual grudge match between visiting West and Davie, but both defenses brought their “A” games. The Falcons’ D was good enough to win 14-7 on a night when their offense failed to score any points.
Besides the spectacular show from the West D – Logan Stoodley was absolutely relentless at linebacker, and Matthew Choi made an exceptional play on a third-down run with less than three minutes left – the night belonged to Tyler Kennedy and Harvey Landy.
Kennedy opened the scoring with touchdown on a 43-yard punt return, and Landy broke a 7-7 tie with a 95-yard interception return in the fourth quarter.
West ran its record to 2-0, while Davie (1-1) came back to earth after thumping Page.
“Defense is what we stress,” West coach Scott Young said after picking up career win No. 150. “Every time we play Davie it’s an instant classic. I credit the defensive staff and defensive players. Our kids played with guts and heart.”
The offensive numbers were dreadful both ways. Davie had six first downs to West’s four. Davie had 134 total yards to West’s 61. West was two for 11 on third-down conversions; Davie was two of 13.
But West found a way to defeat Davie for the fourth straight year. The defensive masterpiece in blue limited freshman phenom Cade Carney to 60 yards on 24 carries, 174 fewer than he put up against Page.
“It was a dogfight till the end,” Kennedy said. “Neither team quit. Just a great game. I didn’t expect a blowout in any proportion. Great defenses tonight – great defenses.”
Kennedy provided a great boost with the game scoreless in the second quarter. He caught the punt at the Davie 43 and reached paydirt without anyone putting a finger on him. Zack Russell’s point-after kick made it 7-0.
“I saw one orange jersey, so I just cut to the outside, found all the white jerseys and took off,” Kennedy said.
Davie capitalized on a West miscue in the third. A bad snap to punter Harrison Baucom set Davie up at the West 17. Five Carney runs later, it was 7-7.
With Davie at the West 14, it looked as if Davie was going to take the lead. But Landy came through in a big way, interceptingParker Correll. He hit the left sideline with Najee Tucker running stride for stride to his side for all 95 yards.
“He threw it short, so I just grabbed it,” Landy said. “It felt real good taking that thing to the house.”
The final big play from West’s D was delivered by Choi. On third-and-6 from the West 38, Carney faked a handoff and tried to get the edge. Choi ruined that, dropping him for a 6-yard loss.
The good news for the War Eagles: Their defense was ferocious.
“I can’t be more proud of our defense for giving us a chance to win until the end,” coach Doug Illing said. “(Offensively we had) mistakes, mistakes, mistakes. We kept shooting ourselves in the foot.”
Afterward, Young awarded the game ball to assistant coach Ed Bowles, who was honored at halftime for going into the Davie Hall of Fame. Bowles was a star football and baseball player at Davie from 1958-62.
“He was my high-school coach (at East Rowan),” Young said. “This was extra special for him tonight.”