5 football players crash records

Published 9:06 am Thursday, November 18, 2021

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By Brian Pitts
Enterprise Record

In the 2021 Davie football season, the War Eagles produced 62 touchdowns, averaged the second-most points (39.8) in program history and scored the sixth-most points ever (438).
It was an up-and-down, 6-5 season because Davie allowed the exact same – 62 TDs and 438 points.
The only team that has averaged more points was the 2021 spring team that put up 40.5 per game. Credit running back Tate Carney, quarterback Alex Summers and receivers Za’Haree Maddox and Zymere Hudson, four seniors who will live forever in Davie annals.
Carney is simply one of the greatest players ever – and just as good of a leader. We long ago ran out of words to compliment the four-year varsity starter.
• In the single-season touchdowns category, the Wake Forest commitment owns three of the top seven spots. He scored 26 times in 2019 to tie for second place. He had 24 TDs last spring and 23 this fall.
• He broke the single-game rushing record with 327 yards against Reynolds last spring. Also during the spring ‘21 season, he rolled up the fourth-best mark (289) against Glenn and the No. 7 total (253) against Reagan.
• In the same game where he ran for 327 yards, he tied the state record for TDs in a game with eight.
• He shattered the record for career TDs with 79, or 12 more than Cooter Arnold.
• He’s second with 4,415 career rushing yards. Arnold holds the record at 5,236.
• He’s third in career 100-yard rushing games with 20. Arnold had 29 such games and older brother Cade Carney had 21.
• Only two War Eagles have achieved three 1,000-yard rushing seasons – Justin Brown (2002-04) and T. Carney.
Over two seasons as the starting quarterback, Summers assured his name won’t be forgotten. He posted dizzying accomplishments, and did it all with a stoic look on his face.
• He’s No. 2 in season completions with 235. Nate Hampton is first at 263.
• He’s third in season passing yards with 2,981. Hampton (3,295) and Garrett Benge (3,071) are first and second.
• He’s tied for third with Chris Reynolds in season TD passes with 28. Benge (34) and Reynolds (29) are first and second.
• Twice Summers tossed five TDs in a game. Reynolds is the only other War Eagle to throw five in one night.
• In the playoff loss at Asheville, Summers tied his record for completions in a game with 33.
• He’s No. 4 in career passing yards with 4,504. Benge (6,392), Reynolds (5,636) and Hampton (4,712) hold the top three spots.
• He’s tied for third with Parker Correll in career TD passes with 44. Reynolds (59) and Benge (57) are first and second.
• At Asheville, Summers set the record for longest streak with at least one TD pass (18 games). Benge is second at 17.
• Also at Asheville, Summers threw for 300-plus yards for the fifth time, tying Hampton for first in that category.
Maddox was a juke artist who had a knack for clutch catches. Time and again, he would take a quick throw and make defenders hug air as he weaved downfield.
• He tied Jack Reynolds for second in season catches with 78. The leader is Ben Ellis with 91.
• He’s fifth in career TD catches with 17. Cooper Wall (33), Ellis (31), Joe Watson (30) and J. Reynolds (25) hold the top four spots.
This was a star-making season for Hudson, who had just 10 receptions in seven games last spring but became a dynamic playmaker as a senior.
• He tied for ninth with T. Carney in season catches with 58. The top eight: Ellis (91), J. Reynolds (78), Maddox (78), Watson (69), Jonathan Mayfield (68), Wall (67), Floyd Collins (63) and Wall (60).
• He became the seventh War Eagle with 1,000 receiving yards in a season and ranks fifth with 1,061. Ellis (1,215), Ellis (1,191), Wall (1,102) and Watson (1,085) occupy the top four spots. The other two are J. Reynolds (1,049) and Mayfield (1,017).
• By turning in 197-, 183- and 183-yard performances, Hudson recorded three of the top 10 receiving games in history.
• He’s sixth in career TD catches with 13.
There’s more. Carney, Hudson and Maddox rank fifth, sixth and seventh in career receiving yards with 1709, 1551 and 1500, respectively. Maddox, Carney and Hudson are fifth, sixth and seventh in career catches with 149, 137 and 90, respectively.
Let’s not forget kicker Palmer Williams, who distinguished himself as a junior by drilling a record-setting 54 extra points, five more than the next man on the list. He also boomed a 47-yard field goal, which was three yards from David Wooldridge’s record.
Notes: Carney, Summers, Maddox and Hudson don’t achieve all that glory without guys like Camden Beck and Spencer Williams, who were four- and three-year varsity starters on the offensive line, although Beck had to miss 10 games in the 2021 seasons with a knee injury. … After belting Davie 61-28 in the first round, No. 9 Asheville was nipped 13-12 by No. 25 Mallard Creek in the second round. … Two CPC teams are still alive. No. 5 Glenn overrode a 35-14 halftime deficit and survived 54-53 over No. 12 Myers Park. No. 13 East Forsyth suffocated No. 4 Ardrey Kell 17-0. East will play at Glenn in the third round. … Two teams that Davie beat handily bowed out in the second round. West Rowan lost 28-15 to Crest in the 3-A playoffs, and Lake Norman lost 31-14 to Cuthbertson in the 4-A playoffs.