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Davie’s JV football team opened the season in resounding fashion on Aug. 22, beating Page for the first time since 2008. Although the margin was only nine, 23-14, it was a smooth glide. The War Eagles raced to a 23-0 lead in the first half.

“We played good,” said Perry Long, who notched a W in his head-coaching debut at Davie. “We made mistakes, but they were stuff that we can fix. For the first game, I thought we played well.”

Quarterback Alex Summers threw for 147 yards and a touchdown on 9-of-20 passing. That should have come as no shock, given he rolled up 1,000-plus passing yards in eight JV games in 2018.

Summers’ favorite target was Isaiah Lytton (five catches for 57 yards). His TD toss was a 37-yarder to JT Bumgarner. DeVonte Lyerly, who rushed for a team-high 49 yards, Adam Moreno and Brodie Smith had one catch each.

The other TDs came from Lyerly on a run and Lytton on a 49-yard punt return.

But the story of the game was defense. The defensive line was lights out as Davie led 23-6 at halftime and by the same score after the third quarter.

“The defensive line played incredibly well,” defensive coordinator Blaine Nicholson said. “They made everybody else’s life easier. (Page) couldn’t handle our DL and that’s the reason we had a comfortable (lead); it looks a little closer than it was.”

The d-linemen wreaking havoc were Isaac Webb, Mark Dixon, Mason Shermer, Vance Visser and John Stokes. Davie got a safety when Webb planted the punter in the end zone.

“They couldn’t block Webb,” Nicholson said. “He was disrupting everything the entire time.

“Dixon commanded a double team every time and kept the ‘backers clean so they could run. I don’t even think the ‘backers had to deal with a blocker all night because of those (linemen).

“Shermer is a freshman that we’re expecting a lot out of, and he came out pretty strong. Visser did some good things on the edge. Stokes came off the bench and really gave a lot of effort.”

Linebackers Jadon Davis and Justin Hayes did exactly as Davie wanted.

“Jadon was flying around,” Nicholson said. “We sent him on blitzes and he got a lot of good hits on the quarterback. Hayes stepped in and made a couple big plays.”

The secondary, led by freshman phenom Willie Purvis at cornerback, was sterling.

Nicholson: “Purvis totally shut down one side of the field. He is going to be an absolute stud. They wouldn’t throw it at him because he made big hits and dislodged the ball a couple times. They put him in for one play at running back and he got 10 yards, and he has not taken (an offensive) snap in practice. That dude is going to be good. He’s very athletic and very fast.

“(Free safety Peyton Helton) got us lined up and did good stuff. The depth in the secondary is good – people like (strong safety Danny Olmedo, free safety Austin Yokley and strong safety Blake Jenkins). Olmedo had pass breakups. Yokley had a tackle for loss. Jenkins made some big licks.”

Page was extremely fortunate not to get blown off the field.

Nicholson: “We dropped six interceptions. Page had four fumbles and we kicked those fumbles. It was unbelievable. One of their touchdowns was on a swatted ball by Shermer. It popped up and a guy who was not supposed to get the ball caught it. It was just a freak thing.”

Notes: Davie ended a 10-game losing streak to Page. … Last year Davie went 6-4 with 12 sophomores and 30 freshmen. This year it has 19 sophomores and 34 freshmen.