Davie junior quarterback Chris Reynolds threw a 25-yard touchdown to Ben Ellis two minutes into Friday’s home game against Hopewell.

That was a warm up.

Reynolds tossed three more TDs – two more to Ellis and one to Cooper Wall – to match a single-game record for the War Eagles, who were vastly superior in a 48-24 romp over the Titans. Only five other Davie QBs have thrown four TDs in a game, and Reynolds turned the trick for the first time in four years.

While the Titans tumbled to 1-4 with their fourth straight loss, Davie improved to 2-3 with its second decisive win in a row. It was the first-ever meeting between the teams, and it was Davie’s final tune-up for conference play.

Reynolds put up gaudy numbers as Davie jumped ahead 21-0 in the first quarter and led 41-10 at the end of the third. Not only did he complete nine of 16 passes for 167 yards, he ran 12 times for a game-high 138 yards.

On the game’s first possession, Reynolds went 3-for-3 in the air for 58 yards, the 25-yard strike to a wide-open Ellis giving Davie a 7-0 lead. On Davie’s second series – a 12-play, 79-yard march – the War Eagles had 11 running plays on the way to a 13-0 advantage. You could see the wipeout coming when the first quarter ended with Davie at 165 yards of offense to Hopewell’s 37.

Davie led 28-10 at halftime.

“That’s what you get with Chris,” Davie coach Devore Holman said. “He’s a smart, heady guy that can spin the ball real well and also can run the ball. So we’re fortunate in that aspect.

“I think (offensive coordinator Todd Bumgarner) did a great job of play-calling and putting us in a position to be successful.”

The second half was uneventful, defined mostly by a steady stream of flags. (The teams combined for 18 penalties for 195 yards.) Hopewell scored twice on long pass plays in the final 10 minutes for some window dressing.

“We had an opportunity to get some kids in early in the third quarter that work scout team during the week,” Holman said. “They got in the end zone a couple times, but I’m OK with that because those guys work hard every day at practice and they need an opportunity to get in there.”

The War Eagles racked up 24 first downs, put up 453 total yards, punted just once and won the turnover battle 3-0. Although Davie’s defense yielded 299 passing yards, it was outstanding against the run. Hopewell only managed four first downs after halftime, and it was held to 34 rushing yards for the game. Hopewell quarterback Justin Morrell had a nice game (15 of 33 for 299 yards and three TDS). But he was picked off by safety Caleb Wallace in the opening minutes when Davie was setting the tone.

In the decisive first half, linebackers Cody Hendrix and Jack Little and d-lineman Jarrell Farmer were disruptive on defense.

“Hendrix is smart and does what he’s coached to do,” Holman said. “Our future is bright with (Hendrix, James Boyle and Broc Barnette at linebacker).

“Little is kamikaze. I’m going to tell you, he plays with reckless abandon. He doesn’t mind getting you on the ground.

“As for Farmer, the play that stuck out in my mind: The guy hit the sideline and Jarrell ran from down here, took a great angle and made a tackle about 35 yards down the field. So that’s what I’m most proud of – his hustle on plays like that.”

Morrell completed his first two passes on slants – 25 yards to Tre Fasion and 15 yards to Fasion. Then Hopewell ran a slant-and-go. It didn’t fool Wallace, who came over to provide double coverage and made the pick. He has two of the team’s three interceptions for the year.

“Coach (Tim) Devericks and them hollered out there: ‘Hey, watch the slant-and-go,’” Holman said. “So we prepared for those type of things. You’ve just got to remind our kids in that situation that that could happen.”

Late in the first half, Reynolds, who rushed and passed for 100-plus yards in the first half, improvised after bobbling a snap on what would have been a 32-yard field goal attempt by Jared Griggs. He scrambled around and somehow found Boyle for an 11-yard completion at the Hopewell 3, good for a first down. Freshman Peyton Hampton scored two plays later for a 28-7 bulge.

“I have no idea how Boyle got open,” Holman said of the linebacker and the team’s No. 1 tackler. “He thinks he’s a receiver now.”

Notes: With Gabe Gonnella at left tackle, Ross Starnes at left guard, Bailey Sloan at center, Maddox McCloud at right guard and Luke Pratapas at right tackle, Davie rushed for 286 yards and passed for 167. … Ellis was his usual self with four catches for 80 yards. … With kicker/punter Jonn Young sitting out with an injury, Griggs handled all the kicking duties. “Jonn tweaked a hip flexor, so we shut him down for a couple weeks,” Holman said. “That’s OK, because Griggs can do a good job for us.” … Four running backs are sharing time – Greg Dalton (40 rushing yards), Curtis Gray (35), Stephon Dalton (32) and Hampton (20). “Every one of them are hungry,” Holman said. “Those guys are rotating and making each other better.” … Six Davie QBs have thrown four TDs in a game a total of 10 times. Tommy Eanes did it once in 1973. Brad Corriher did it twice in 2005. Garrett Benge did it three times in 2006. Zach Illing did it once in 2008. And Adam Smith did it once in 2011.

Hopewell        0    10  0    14 – 24

Davie       21   7   13   7  – 48

First Quarter

D – Ellis 25 pass from Reynolds (Griggs kick), 9:50.

D – Reynolds 1 run (kick fail), 3:40.

D – Ellis 14 pass from Reynolds (Reynolds run), :50.

Second Quarter

H – Ely-Bembry 44 pass from Morrell (McMellon kick), 4:14.

D – Hampton 1 run (Griggs kick), 1:43.

H – McMellon 25 FG, 0:00.

Third Quarter

D – Wall 24 pass from Reynolds (run fail), 3:17.

D – Ellis 29 pass from Reynolds (Griggs kick), :08.

Fourth Quarter

H – Ely-Bembry 45 pass from Morrell (Ely-Bembry pass from Morrell), 10:07.

D – Oxendine 18 run (Griggs kick), 4:00.

H – Fasion 59 pass from Morrell (pass fail), 1:28.

TEAM STATISTICS

H D

FD1424

Rushing 21-34 48-286

Passing 299 167

C-A-I 15-35-1 9-16-0

Punts 4-32 1-21

F-L 2-2 0-0

Penalties 11-105 7-90

3rd conv. 6/13 3/10

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

Hopewell

RUSHING – Morrell 8-26, Fasion 1-8, Colson 3-7, Brown 3-1, Neal 3-(-2), Exume 2-(-6), team 1-0

PASSING – Morrell 15-33-1-299, Fasion 0-1, team 0-1

RECEIVING – Ely-Bembry 8-148, Fasion 4-118, Patterson 1-26, Helms 1-9, Colson 1-(-2)

Davie

RUSHING – Reynolds 12-138, G. Dalton 5-40, Gray 7-35, S. Dalton 8-32, Oxendine 7-22, Hampton 8-20, McGee 1-(-1)

PASSING – Reynolds 9-16-0-167

RECEIVING – Ellis 4-80, Byerly 2-31, Wall 1-24, McGee 1-21, Boyle 1-11