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By Brian Pitts

Enterprise Record

After a long, long wait for its season opener, you think the Davie JV football team was locked in at West Rowan on March 4?

At the end of the first quarter, it was 28-0. Davie wound up dealing the Falcons a 44-0 beating.

The War Eagles were supposed to open the week before against Ragsdale, but the Tigers did not have enough bodies to field a JV. So Davie had to wait another week to play its first game since Oct. 24, 2019. All it did was blast out the most points in 29 games (45-40 over Parkland on Nov. 3, 2016). All it did was record the biggest blowout in at least 25 years. (Davie did not post a 44-point margin of victory between 1996-2019.)

“We were ready to go,” coach Tim Devericks said. “They’ve been practicing for a while and they were ready to play against another colored jersey.”

Freshmen Markel Summers and Ty Miller have the look of future stars. Summers, who played running back and some quarterback, rushed for 100 yards on 12 carries and scored three touchdowns despite only getting three rushing attempts in the second half.

Miller, a dual-threat QB, rushed eight times for 92 yards. He also completed 6 of 11 passes for 77 yards, hooking up with Carter Helton (3-31), Evan York (2-38) and Conner Berg (1-8).

“Ty is learning everyday,” Devericks said. “When he first came out here, it was like drinking through a water hose and he was like: ‘Whoa.’ Same thing with Markel. I told them to be patient. Both are great young men who are starting to see things. I think both of them are going to have tremendous careers.”

The defense was fantastic. The shutout was a testament to the line and edge guys. The line rotation included Dane Porter, Matty Warner, Zayne Smith, Hunter Testa and Jake Cass. The edge rushers are John Stokes, Levi Miller, Brandon Wood and Ian Boger.

“A lot of times our linebackers were trying to get there, but the defensive line was causing havoc in the backfield,” Devericks said. “There were times the running back had two guys in his face as he was getting the ball. There’s a lot of competition in practice (for playing time). It’s good when you can put the next guy in and they bring the same energy, juice and desire to make plays.”

Defensive coordinator Blaine Nicholson echoed those sentiments.

“They couldn’t block our edge guys whatsoever,” he said. “They were firing off and doing exactly what we want them to. In a couple years, we might have a defensive line that’s aggressive, big and hard to handle.”

But Nicholson was impressed with several defenders. He marveled at sophomore Logan Yokley.

“We have one dude that was playing at a different speed,” he said of the defensive back. “He had a heck of a game. He was coming down and fitting the alley, had textbook tackling and didn’t have any missed tackles. Anytime they tried to bounce it, it was a no-go because of him.”

Nicholson liked what he saw from sophomore linebackers Morgan Creason and Will Burris.

“Morgan is getting us lined up,” he said. “Will is transitioning from being a defensive lineman to an outside linebacker. He did a good job in his first game there.”

Notes: Freshman Mason Caudle spent preseason at running back. Now he’s doubling up at free safety “because we’ve had some injuries,” Nicholson said. “And he did a good job (on defense).”… The JV went 7-2 in 2019.