By Brian Pitts

For the Salisbury Post

MOCKSVILLE — After getting outplayed for most of the game Friday night, it looked like visiting North Davidson was going to break Davie County’s heart in the 51st meeting between the old rivals.
The Black Knights (1-1) scored with 6:55 left in fourth quarter to take their first lead of the game, 14-13.
The War Eagles’ response will be remembered for a long time. All they did was drive 80 yards in 16 plays, chewing 4:48 off the clock and scoring when QB Nate Hampton (22-of-45 for 243 yards) hit receiver Jack Reynolds for their third touchdown connection of the night. The same duo hooked up on the two-point conversion, giving Davie a 21-14 upset win before a packed house.
The game will be remembered for more than sophomore Hampton’s passing and Reynolds’ receiving heroics. It will go down in history as one of the great ball-hawking displays in Davie’s 63-year history, a three-interception performance authored by sophomore cornerback Kristian Lyons, who achieved the hat trick with North at the Davie 32 yard-line and 31 seconds remaining.
The first four possessions of the game went turnover on downs by Davie, punt by North, punt by Davie and punt by North. Davie threatened twice but had nothing to show for it, as a pass from North’s 9-yard line deflected off Tate Carney and was intercepted by North’s Jackson Perrell.
The teams traded punts before Lyons got his first pick with 6:19 left in the first half. That allowed Davie (1-1) to set up shop at the North 35. Seven plays later,  Reynolds, the brother of Charlotte quarterback Chris Reynolds, made his first TD snag on an 8-yard slant. Skyler Schoppe’s PAT gave Davie a 7-0 lead with 4:35 left in the half.
Lyons intercepted again, less than a minute later. The half ended with interceptions on back-to-back plays, with Samuel Hendrix getting one for Davie and North’s Jacob Foltz returning the favor with only 15 seconds left.
North got even on a third-down play with 5:45 left in the third period. Landon Moore’s pump fake drew the corner, Lyons, in and Themus Fulks got behind him for a 72-yard scoring play. Colby Skotthy’s kick tied things at 7.
Davie answered with an impressive 65-yard drive. On third-and-11, Josh Robinson made a catch out of the backfield and juked his way for 17 yards. Hampton’s slant to Reynolds resulted in a 17-yard TD. Schoppe’s PAT was wide left, leaving Davie’s lead at 13-7.
Davie dropped a pass at midfield when the receiver would have run for days, and North partially blocked a punt, a swing of events that set North up at the Davie 41. It couldn’t cash in, though, as Jake Marion’s 47-yard field goal banged off the left upright.
But the Knights forced a punt and took over at midfield. They converted a fourth-and-3 from the Davie 24 with a 13-yard pass from Moore to Fulks. Two plays later, Moore found Perrell in the back of the end zone for a 15-yard TD. Skotthy’s kick was true as North jumped ahead 14-13 with 6:48 to play.
Then came the Davie drive for the ages. On third-and-10, Hampton, a 6-5, 225-pounder, escaped all kinds of danger in the backfield and dumped it off to Robinson for 15 yards. On fourth-and-3 from the Davie 42, Evan Little picked the perfect time for his first catch of the night, a 9-yarder to move the chains. On third-and-7, a slant to Reynolds clicked for 14 yards. On third-and-10, Carney reeled in a 15-yard pass. On a third-and-4 from the Knights’ 11, Reynolds fooled the North defense with a fade to the back right corner of the end zone, capping the 16-play, 80-yard drive in dramatic fashion.
After the successful two-point pass to Reynolds, Davie had the 21-14 lead with only two minutes left.
Moore completed three passes to move the ball to Davie’s 32. That’s when Lyons came up with the pick that sealed a spirited win for the War Eagles.