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By Brian Pitts
Enterprise Record

The Davie football team’s game at Glenn in Friday’s regular-season finale looked very much like the East Forsyth (59-21 loss) and Reagan (52-14 loss) games.
Davie had no chance against a team with an abundance of weapons. The Bobcats, coming off a triple-overtime loss to East, averaged 10.1 yards per play, racked up 640 yards and only faced two third downs all night.
“The past three years we’ve said it in the (all-conference) meetings,” coach Tim Devericks said after Davie got steamrolled 62-28. “People don’t realize the quality of football that’s in the Triad right here. There’s a lot of kids going to play at the next level.”
Glenn showed off a trio of game-breaking ball carriers. Chaney Fitzgerald (11 carries, 182 yards), William Slater (10-121) and Brandon Sutton (15-98) were unstoppable on the ground. The Bobcats’ high-flying offense can torch you through the air as well. Camden Coleman hit 13 of 16 passes for 180 yards and four TDs. His favorite target was waterbug Levine Smith, who took short passes and danced his way for one huge gain after another. He finished with 11 catches for 140 yards and three scores.
“He’s lightning,” Devericks said of Smith. “They ran two plays almost the whole first three quarters. They ran a bubble to No. 8 (Smith) and a counter trey to the boundary. (Smith) accounts for almost two extra players. If we don’t put an extra player out there, we can’t tackle him in space because he’s so fast.”
The War Eagles could not create any running room for Tate Carney and Markel Summers. The good news as they prepare for a road playoff game is their passing game was fabulous.
Alex Summers broke his own record for passing yards in a game, and receivers Za’Haree Maddox, Brodie Smith and Zymere Hudson all had nine or more catches.
“Our guys believe and they executed the plays,” Devericks said. “I think Alex has had a phenomenal senior year.”
It was scoreless after the first quarter as Davie hung tough as a sizeable underdog. But Glenn scored in the first minute of the second quarter and again five minutes later to take a 13-0 lead.
Davie answered with a 70-yard drive. Hudson had a pair of 19-yard catches before Smith made a diving 24-yard grab at the Glenn 1. Carney took a direct snap and scored around left end as Davie closed the gap to 13-7.
The Bobcats scored less than two minutes later, which has been a theme all season. But Davie punched back with a spectacular 80-yard, three-play, 28-second series. This one belonged to Maddox, who slipped through would-be tacklers on a 51-yard catch-and-run. Two plays later, he got behind the defense for a 29-yard TD. Davie was within 19-14 with 2:23 left in the first half.
It was demoralizing to watch Glenn score with :45 on the clock. Cornerback Willie Purvis was in great position to break up a pass to the end zone to Fitzgerald, who appeared to push off. There was no call and Fitzgerald made a fancy 23-yard catch to push Glenn’s halftime bulge to 27-14.
“We had two guys in great position,” Devericks said. “I don’t know about the (no) call on the play. I was proud of our guys for not getting upset at that.”
In the third quarter, the War Eagles stayed in contention with an impressive 10-play, 91-yard march. A 38-yard pass to Hudson and a 15-yarder to Smith set up Smith’s 11-yard TD that cut the deficit to 33-21.
But the Bobcats kept moving briskly up and down the field until they called off the dogs in the fourth. They wound up scoring on eight of 12 possessions, including seven straight.
The outcome overshadowed the Davie offense, which averaged 6.2 yards per play against an esteemed defense. Although the War Eagles were held to 57 yards on the ground – that Carney’s longest run was 7 yards tells you all you need to know about Glenn’s d-line and linebackers – they collected 24 first downs and 505 total yards and were efficient on third down (8 of 15).
A. Summers went 32 of 45 for 448 yards, offsetting two interceptions with three TDs. Maddox (12-129 receiving), Smith (11-136) and Hudson (9-183) became the first trio of receivers to have 100-plus yards in the same game.
“I’m proud of our kids,” Devericks said. “We didn’t quit. Were we outmanned for 48 minutes? Yes. But we didn’t quit and kept giving it all we had.
“It’s all of them working with each other. (The receivers) compete against each other at practice, which comes to fruition in games. They run good routes and Alex was able to read the defense.”
The previous record for passing yards in a game for A. Summers, who had a slow heartbeat despite being heavily pressured several times, was 430 in a 51-34 win over Mooresville. He flirted with his record for completions in a game, 33 in a 56-49 win over Mt. Tabor. He tied the Garrett Benge record for longest streak with at least one TD pass. Benge had a 17-game run in 2006-07.
Maddox delivered double-figure catches for the third time in six games, and he was three shy of Jack Reynolds’ single-game record of 15. Maddox had 13 in another game. Ben Ellis and Maddox are tied for third with 12.
“It’s kind of like Kyler Murray in a sense,” Devericks said of Maddox’s ability to juke and turn short throws into big gains. “Like I’ve never seen him take a hard hit because he’s so slippery. Teams have to come up and then he can use his quickness to get by them.”
How good was Smith? He made more than one diving catch. He even laid out and pinned the ball against his helmet. It was ridiculous.
“Coming into the season, Brodie was set to have a huge season,” Devericks said. “He got sidetracked with COVID, but he never gave up his hunger and his fight. He had a big game (early on) and then got injured (wrist).”
Hudson, who had 183 receiving yards for the second time in four games, made all kinds of wondrous catches. As a senior, he’s turned himself into a legitimate college prospect.
“He was able to get the safety’s hips turned the majority of the night, bend it to the middle and make good plays,” Devericks said. “If it was anywhere in his radius, he was going to catch it.”
Notes
• Davie (6-4) finished fifth in the Central Piedmont Conference. The standings: Glenn/Reagan 6-1, East 5-1, West Forsyth 3-3, Davie 3-4, Tabor 2-4, Reynolds 1-6, Parkland 0-5.
• The Bobcats (7-2) won a share of the title in back-to-back years for the first time in program history.
• Junior Palmer Williams, who averaged a beautiful 44 yards on three punts, broke the season record for extra points. He’s 50 for 52 on the year. David Stein, Michael Rowe and Willy Moure made 49 in 2004, 2006 and 2019, respectively.
• After enduring a bumpy ride in the CPC, the War Eagles will gladly go outside of the league in the first round of the playoffs. They will visit Asheville on Friday night at 7. This will be the first-ever meeting against the Cougars, who are 8-2 and seeded ninth in the 32-team West Region. Davie is seeded 24th. Tickets can only be purchased on gofan.com or on the app.
• Five CPC teams received playoff bids, including No. 5 Glenn, No. 13 East Forsyth, No. 15 Reagan and No. 17 West Forsyth.