By Brian Pitts

For the Salisbury Post

MOORESVILLE — Davie County got the jump on Mooresville here Friday night, but it didn’t last.

Davie led early, 13-0, but unfortunately for the visiting War Eagles, 46 minutes remained in the game. The Blue Devils got a spark from A.J. Stewart’s 86-yard kickoff return for a touchdown and blew past Davie, 52-32, in a non-conference shootout.

Davie couldn’t follow up last week’s impressive 21-14 upset over North Davidson, falling to 1-2. Mooresville, coming off a bye week, improved to 2-0.

Davie’s Josh Robinson went 80 yards on the game’s first play from scrimmage to stake the War Eagles to a 7-0 lead. Matt Hill intercepted a pass on Mooresville’s first play from scrimmage to set up Robinson’s 10-yard TD run as Davie County shellshocked Mooresville, right out of the gate.

On the ensuing kickoff, Stewart raced 86 yards. Isaiah Cuthrell blocked the extra point, but Mooresville, down 13-6, was back off the canvas.
Davie’s first trip to Mooresville since 2006 saw 897 combined yards and 12 TDs.
A fourth-down snap sailed over punter Peyton Hampton’s head and into the end zone, a safety that cut Mooresville’s deficit to 13-8. Deberardino, who saw limited action at quarterback in Mooresville’s 21-7 win at West Rowan, was a major factor, overcoming three interceptions with 233 passing yards on 11 completions and three TD passes. He completed a 43-yarder before hitting Jackson Link for 21 yards to put the Blue Devils on top, 15-13.
Davie went 65 yards in 11 plays to regain the lead. QB Nate Hampton converted a fourth-and-8 with a 9-yard scramble, connected with Ben Crenshaw for 8 yards on third-and-5, and he plunged in from the Mooresville 1-yard line. Skyler Schoppe’s PAT gave Davie a 20-15 lead.
But the Blue Devils responded with a staggering 30-0 run.

Deberardino hit Sean Hill with a 35-yard TD. After Mooresville stripped a Davie receiver at midfield and recovered the fumble, Isaac Riffle nailed a 45-yard field goal. That gave the Blue Devils a 25-20 halftime advantage.
They didn’t let up at the outset of the third quarter, driving 55 yards. Quamir Conner did the heavy lifting with five effective runs in a span of six plays and finished with a 2-yard score.
It really snowballed on Davie when a pass hit off Jack Reynolds’ hands and hung in the air. Mooresville’s Devan Joslin intercepted and returned it 41 yards to the end zone.
Seemingly every time the War Eagles had a positive moment, they wiped it out with a negative. Hunter Meacham intercepted Deberardino, but two sacks prevented Davie from cutting into Mooresville’s 39-20 lead. Justice Redmon intercepted Deberardino and Ben Crenshaw caught a Hampton pass for 28 yards to the Mooresville 17 — only to see it called back due to an 18-yard holding penalty.
Deberardino found Treymin Jackson streaking all alone across the middle, resulting in his first catch and an 80-yard TD. Twenty seconds later, Hampton and Cranfill hooked up for a 70-yard TD, but Davie wasn’t in a position to trade scores. Less than a minute after Cranfill’s explosion, Conner ran 66 yards to paydirt.
Tate Carney keyed an 80-yard drive for Davie, and Robinson finished it off from 6 yards out to cap the scoring.
The War Eagles will look at the stat sheet and wonder how they lost by 20 points. They had 22 first downs, 232 rushing yards and 274 passing yards. Robinson ran for 175, Hampton connected on 23 of 34 throws and Carney picked up 60 rushing yards on nine carries.
But on the flip side, Davie played matador defense, allowing 21 yards per completion to Deberardino and Co. and surrendering 10 or more points in each quarter.

Davie will host West Rowan next Friday.