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By Brian Pitts

Davie Enterprise Record

What a night for Jamarius Pelote.

The sophomore scored all five touchdowns as Davie’s JV football team cruised past visiting Reynolds 32-6 on Sept. 14.

Pelote was the quarterback of the 2022 JV squad. This season began with Pelote and Aiden Hall rotating at QB, but against Reynolds, Pelote stayed at RB the whole time and was the star in the Central Piedmont Conference opener.

Pelote rushed 19 times for 153 yards and three TDs, and two of his four receptions were scores as Davie extended its winning streak to three.

Davie led 13-0 at the end of the first quarter, 19-6 at halftime and 26-6 at the end of the third.

“Jamarius is an intelligent player and he can handle (the transition from QB to RB),” coach Tim Devericks said. “He knew where the running backs lined up. As a quarterback, you have to know what everybody on the field is doing at every position. And his natural athletic ability has taken over.”

Davie’s top receiver, sophomore Dallas Simms, suffered a knee injury against the Demons, and he was walking on crutches the next day. His season could be over. If that’s the case, Davie will lean even more on Pelote and Hall, who completed 6 of 12 passes for 47 yards, including the two scoring hookups with Pelote, who led the way in catches (four) and receiving yards (36).

“It definitely hurts us,” coach Spencer Pasciolla said of Simms’ injury. “He has been the quintessential kid you look to to become a leader in his second year. I think regardless of the diagnosis, he’ll continue to be a leader for this team. He’ll show up every day and continue to be about the War Eagles. But it’s definitely not a positive for us on the field.

“At skill (positions) we’re pretty young, but obviously Jay (Pelote) is going to take care of us. He continued to do great things with the ball in his hands. And Aiden is going to step up and continue to take on more and more of a role, especially with his moves. We definitely have some guys who will be ready.”

Jayce Bentley (5 carries, 69 yards) and Cameron Knox (9-57) also pounded away on the ground to help Davie climb to 3-1.

Pasciolla only had one complaint: three turnovers.  “We still have turnovers that I’m not happy with, but we’re starting to click a little bit more and a little bit more often,” he said. “Once we put it all together, we should be a dang good team.”

Early on, the Demons completed too many passes for defensive coordinator Blaine Nicholson’s liking. But once the defense settled in, everything worked according to plan.

“They tested our DBs,” Nicholson said of Josh Jones, CJ Moore, Colson Sink and Jakob Cable. “We had to get acclimated a little bit, but as the game went on, we did a lot better job. To give up just one score was successful.”

But no position performed better on defense than the inside linebackers (Bubby Byington, Luke Wayne, Luke Foster and Jackson Meadwell).

“The linebackers played probably the best of anybody,” Nicholson said.

Notes: The Demons fell to 1-3 with their third loss in a row. … Brady Carter and Simms had one catch each. … When you rush for 286 yards, the offensive line is doing something right. Ryan Williams, Ahmad McGee, Walker Matthews, Maddox Creason, Colt Ratliff and Sammy Angell seem to be jelling up front. “They’ve come a long way since week one,” Devericks said. “With continued effort and technique, we can be a pretty good group.”