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Davie’s JV football team has reached 4-0 and it hasn’t played at anything approaching peak capacity the past two games.

On Sept. 5, the War Eagles were uneven at Mooresville. It was 7-7 at the end of the third; they won 28-13.

On Sept. 12 at home against West Rowan, the War Eagles drove 85 yards the first time they had the ball. They wouldn’t score another touchdown in a 9-6 win, which isn’t what coach Perry Long had in mind.

That’s the tantalizing part. There’s reason to believe the best is yet to come. The best would be something to behold.

Long said: “It was ugly. We played terrible. We completed long passes on third-and-long.”

On that first offensive series, quarterback Alex Summers completed passes to JT Bumgarner – a 15-yarder to convert on third down – and Brodie Smith to push the ball to the West 7. Running back DeVonte Lyerly scored from there. The kick was no good to leave the score 6-0.

Davie quickly added to the lead. Summers and Isaiah Lytton hooked up on a long pass to the West 8. A penalty pushed Davie back. Palmer Williams atoned for the missed PAT by banking a 30-yard field goal.

It was 9-0 at the end of the first quarter. The defense did the rest.

The War Eagles were close to shaking free from West, but tough breaks went against them. There was a Mark Dixon forced fumble that was negated by a whistle.

Long: “Mark ripped the ball from the West receiver, but they said the receiver was down. Mark had the ball in his hands. They blew the whistle (early).”

There was a long touchdown by Lyerly called back by a clipping penalty.

The Falcons covered 65 yards to cut Davie’s lead to 9-6. Freshman Mason Shermer blocked the extra point.

Adam Moreno intercepted a West pass at the West 39 in the third. Davie’s defense got a turnover on downs at the Davie 41 late in the third.

West intercepted Summers with five minutes left, but the Falcons were 84 yards from the end zone and that possession ended with a punt.

West’s last gasp was muffing a punt at the West 40 with 40 seconds remaining. Davie went to victory formation and handed West its first loss in three games.

Long: “We snuck out with a win and we’re still undefeated. Yes, I’m happy about that. But we’ve got work to do to get better.”

Summers burned West for 206 passing yards one year after throwing for 190 and three TDs against the Falcons. After what Summers did as a freshman, you could see a big sophomore season coming from a mile off. Dating to 2018, he has a streak of nine 100-yard passing games. This was his third 200-yard passing game on JV. The others came last year: 266 in a 26-20 win over Reynolds and 222 in a 38-22 loss to East Forsyth.

Lytton had four catches for 128 yards, but it should have been so much greater. Long: “Isaiah had an off night.”

Defensive coordinator Blaine Nicholson was pretty happy with his unit. “We made a couple of really big stops,” he said. “We gave up one good drive to them.”

Sophomore linebacker Jadon Davis did his usual thing. Sophomore Dixon was a star on the d-line.

Nicholson: “Jadon made a couple of big tackles for losses. Mark had a very good game. It’s very tough to move Mark off his spot because he’s such a big dude. He was pushing people back and disrupting things in the A gap.”

The secondary faced adversity. Peyton Helton cramped up repeatedly in the second half. Willie Purvis missed the second half with a foot injury. Freshmen Amani Hall and Logan Yokley picked up the slack.

Nicholson: “Amani came in, almost had an interception and played really well. Logan played very well, running down and filling the alley on jet sweeps and stuff like that.”

Notes: Davie had minimal rushing yards, with Lyerly gaining a team-high 35 yards on 11 carries. … Smith was second in catches (three for 65 yards).