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By Brian Pitts

Enterprise Record

The Davie boys lacrosse team is on a historic ride.

The War Eagles have broken the program record for wins (10), they reached the Central Piedmont Conference Tournament final for the first time in their 11-year history and now they’re headed to the state playoffs. Oh, and they also recorded their highest finish in the CPC standings.

Great achievements are happening in Ross Neisler’s second year as head coach.

East Forsyth beat Davie 19-15 on March 26, but Davie got 14-11 revenge at home on April 17 as East stumbled to 11-5.

“This was the biggest win to date,” Neisler said. “This game was beautiful. It was a great program win. This is the first time we’ve ever had a winning record in conference.”

Carson Pirk (23 saves) has ascended to stardom as a freshman goalie. He went nuts against East.

“The anchor of the defense was (Pirk),” Neisler said. “They took 45-50 shots and Carson stopped two one-on-ones with stuffs right out of the air. There were two more one-on-ones where he was quick enough to deflect the ball. There were another five or six regular shots that he deflected. Carson was a superstar. I think he has potential to go D-I. In two years, he’ll be the best goalie in our conference.”

The defense, led by seniors Landon Dingler and Connor Humphrey and freshmen Pirk, Elijah Chaffin and Evan Helms, did everything Neisler asked. Offensive players like sophomore Jack Pisciotta (one goal, eight assists), senior Bryce Harnsberger and junior Ty Carter weren’t half-bad themselves.

“Jack was drawing the double, taking on the challenge of running the offense and distributing the ball,” Neisler said. “Bryce was dominant in getting into shooting areas and scoring. He’s going to Hampden-Sydney College (Virginia), which is a high-level academic school and an amazing lacrosse program right now. Bryce controlled the face-off and helped us dominate that game. Ty controlled the momentum and the tempo of the game, especially in the fourth quarter when it was tight.”

Davie 18, Glenn 0

Davie nailed down its finest rank in the CPC when it blasted Glenn on Senior Night on April 18. It took fourth in the league.

The final standings: Reagan 13-2, Reynolds 11-2, East Forsyth 9-5, Davie 8-6, Glenn 3-9, Mt. Tabor 3-10, West Forsyth 0-13.

The seven seniors who played their last regular-season home game were Dingler, Sebastian Bellomo, Isaac Parker, John Holcomb, Harnsberger, Owen Horne and Humphrey.

Davie 12, Reynolds 10

The regular season concluded with a 19-17 nonconference road loss to highly-ranked Bishop Mcguinness. Davie had no trouble rebounding as it clubbed visiting Glenn, 17-8, in the first round of the CPC Tournament.

Then came a major test against top-seeded Reynolds in the CPC semifinals at West Forsyth on April 23. The Demons swept Davie in the regular season before sharing first with Reagan.

Not only did the War Eagles upset Reynolds, they did it in style, taking a 12-5 lead to the fourth quarter, when they let off the gas and nursed the lead.

Holy cow. While Reynolds stumbled to 12-3, the No. 4 War Eagles advanced in the semifinals for the first time ever and won for the sixth time in seven games.

“The defense played outstanding and held them to five goals through three quarters,” Neisler said. “We could have probably had three or four more goals if we’d continued playing our offense. We went into a possession program.”

Pirk was doing his thing.

“Carson had five or six huge saves, which really inspired our defense to protect him,” Neisler said.

Carter, Harnsberger and Pisciotta came through again for the offense.

“Our stars have been the same all season,” he said of the trio. “They controlled the pace and the tempo. Jack and Ty did a very good job of drawing double coverage so other people could step up and shoot.”

Owen Horne and Owen Blakely had two goals each. Horne’s were “huge, timely goals,” he said.

Reagan 14, Davie 9

Davie’s run ended in the CPC championship game at West Forsyth on April 25. No. 2 Reagan led throughout and beat Davie (10-9) for the third time.

But Davie has set a new record for wins, eclipsing the 9-7 mark from 2019. The records from 2014-23: 4-13, 5-11, 4-11, 6-10, 5-9, 9-7, 3-0 (COVID-shortened year), 5-9, 8-11, 4-11.

This week Davie will compete in the state playoffs.