By Brian Pitts
Davie Enterprise Record

GREENSBORO – With Davie’s football team opening the season Friday against the defending 4AA champion, orange-clad fans saw a game they will remember for years. Twenty years from now, probably 10,000 people will claim they were there to see what happened in an unimaginably decisive 31-14 victory over Page.  
Was Cade Carney over-hyped in preseason? Are you kidding? He went beyond the hype. It was a jaw-dropping spectacle: 29 carries for 234 yards, a freshman debut that likely will never be surpassed.  
Doing his best Marcus Dupree impression, Carney displayed plow-horse traits. He also showed go-the-distance speed while rushing for the most yards in 98 games (Cooter Arnold had 322 in a 43-17 win over South Rowan in ‘04). Arnold, the biggest star ever at Davie, recorded five 200-yard games in 2003-04. Just like that, Carney is only four away. Carney even churned for extra yards when his helmet was knocked off.
“Words can’t describe it,” senior center Heath Nail said. “He did so great. Words just can’t describe it.”
“God gave me the ability to run, and I came out and did what I’m taught,” Carney said. “Coach Bum (running backs coach Todd Bumgarner) has done a great job teaching me what to do.”
Coach Doug Illing tried to play it coy, but it was impossible to suppress his smile.
“He’s going to be alright,” Illing said. “He’s a lot of athlete. We’ve just got to keep telling him he hasn’t done anything yet. Don’t be telling him he’s done anything. He’s got a big offensive line in front of him that did a great job. All the credit goes to those guys, and he’s just doing what he’s been coached to do and what he knows how to do.”
Carney’s head is on so securely straight he sounded like a coach.
“(The 234) doesn’t matter,” he said. “Nothing got done today. We’ve got much more to do. We’ve got a long way to go. This isn’t even conference yet.”
As if Carney’s rushing total wasn’t enough to leave the Pirates in disbelief, senior A.J. Blaskievich ran eight times for 105 yards – not bad for a guy who hadn’t run the ball since his South Davie days. Davie overcame the absence of senior Stephon Smoot, a third-year starter who rushed for 1,128 yards in ‘11. Smoot was out with an injury.
Blaskievich is well known as a vicious hitter at safety.  
“Well, he’s a great athlete,” Illing said. “He’s got a passion to win. The switch finally came on. He’s starting to play. When he gets the ball, he’s going to run wide open. If he just learns to carry it tight when he gets hit, he’s capable of helping us there.”
Davie showed how deep its talent runs in the backfield. Senior Devon Parks, a returning starter at safety, broke a 22-yard run. He was limited to four carries by cramps.
“Those guys (Blaskievich and Parks) can add a lot of punch,” Illing said.
It might sound fictional, but the second carry of Carney’s high-school career resulted in a 60-yard rumble. He started up the middle, cut right and sprinted down the Davie sideline. It set up Parks’ 2-yard touchdown on fourth-and-2. The first of three extra points by Woody Parrish gave Davie a 7-0 lead less than three minutes into the game.
“That was special,” Illing said of Carney’s 60-yarder …