JV Summers puts on a show
Published 9:35 am Thursday, September 13, 2018
At halftime of the Davie JV football game at West Rowan on Sept. 6, Davie’s offense was on the verge of a forgettable performance. The War Eagles trailed 6-0 at intermission, with the ground attack producing a dud. The win over Mooresville from the week before would have been forgotten.
Davie needed the freshman quarterback and his receivers to save the day, and Alex Summers and Co. obliged. A dramatic turnaround saw the War Eagles win going away, 20-6.
The Falcons fell to 1-1 after stomping North Rowan 42-6. Davie, which beat Mooresville by an identical score, improved to 2-1.
“Alex went on a tear,” coach Blaine Nicholson said.
The first half, though, belonged to the Falcons, who led 6-0 virtue of a first-quarter toss sweep for 10 yards. Davie couldn’t get out of its own way in the first half.
“We had a flurry of penalties,” Nicholson said. “We’d have a good play and a penalty would set us back. We couldn’t get the run game going. They were pretty big up front. We made an adjustment at halftime and started to throw it around.”
Did they ever. Summers put on a show with three second-half TD passes, starting with a 15-yard slant to freshman Zymere Hudson, who shook would-be tacklers on the way to the end zone.
“Zymere dropped one earlier in that drive,” he said. “He showed great resolve after letting one bounce off his hands. He made two guys miss, too, so it was a good run after the catch.”
It stayed 6-6 as Davie missed the PAT. Beaven Arey would respond with back-to-back makes.
“We had a new holder (replacing MJ Holleman, who was out of action), not a great snap and not great blocking,” he said.
Later in the third quarter, sophomore Tyler Snyder hauled in a 36-yard TD pass on a seam route. Now Davie had a 13-6 lead.
“Alex put it right on him,” he said. “They were running a one-high safety, and the seam route is really tough to cover there.”
In the fourth, Summers and Snyder hooked up again, this time for the knockout blow. It was a slot fade for 10 yards and a TD.
“Alex put it on his outside shoulder where it was tough for the defensive guy to get it,” he said. “Tyler went up and high-pointed it.”
After throwing for 91 and 69 yards in the first two games, Summers enhanced his stature immensely with 12-of-19 passing for 190 yards and no turnovers.
“I can see him maturing and not being careless with the ball,” Nicholson said. “It’s really impressive to me that he’s able to process it that fast and make the right decisions.”
After sitting out the first game with an injury and not catching a pass in the game two, Snyder made a big impact with five catches for 94 yards.
“He made a couple tough catches that sparked us when we weren’t moving that much,” he said.
Defensively, Davie was lights out pretty much all game, despite missing Sam Collins and Holleman. Freshman linebacker Jadon Davis looks like a bona fide stud.
“If he continues to progress, he’s going to be really good,” Nicholson said. “I mean really good. He’s got a knack for the ball. He’s really aggressive. He’s not scared of anything. I’m positive he had over five tackles for loss. It’s unreal how he gets to the ball.”
Arey was brilliant in pass coverage, and Ivan Poag, who moved from outside linebacker to stand-up end in an adjustment by coordinator David Hunt, added more authority to his sophomore season.
“Beaven was targeted 10-12 times (at cornerback), and they only had one completion on him,” he said. “He had five or six pass breakups. He’s doing a really good job with his technique. Without him tonight, we would have been in trouble.
“Ivan chased a lot of stuff down from the back side with his speed.”
Outside linebacker Isaac Webb played well, according to Nicholson. Defensive end Darius Leonard had a sack and d-linemen Vance Visser, Davy Marion, Andrew Shuler and Nathan Wyatt got the job done in the trenches.
Notes: Hudson and JT Bumgarner had three and two receptions, respectively. Preston Young, Hunter Rose and DeVonte Lyerly had one each. … Backup QB Kole Bilyeu completed a pass for 21 yards. … Freshman Blake Jenkins, normally a safety, filled in at outside linebacker.