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By Brian Pitts

Enterprise Record

A look back at Davie sports 50 years ago …

The 1974 Davie football season started about as poorly as possible, but the War Eagles would come back with a vengeance and enjoy some awesome moments in a 4-5-1 season.

In the season-opening 21-0 loss at South Stokes, Davie was penalized for 100 yards, committed five turnovers and went 1 for 13 through the air. The defensive standout was middle guard Donnie Price. End Steve Hepler and tackle Greg Pulliam recovered fumbles for Davie.

The War Eagles responded with a 3-0-1 stretch, including a 6-6 tie with South Iredell. Davie got on the board first when quarterback Craig Michael tossed a 5-yard pass to Ron Anderson. South tied the score in the third quarter, and that’s how it ended.

Michael piled up 176 passing yards on four electrifying completion in Davie’s 20-10 win at North Stanly. Davie roared to a 20-0 halftime lead as Michael hit Ricky Maxey and Stan Riddle with 36- and 45-yard scoring passes, respectively. The defense was led by Stan Thorp, Price, Tim Grubb and Joe Woodward.

A week later, the War Eagles suffocated West Iredell 20-0. (The game was held at North Iredell because West’s field wasn’t completed.) The biggest offensive highlight was Anderson’s 80-yard run. West couldn’t do anything, getting one first down and finishing with minus-37 rushing yards.

Thorp took over in a 14-0 win against North Iredell, rushing for 136 yards. Anderson went for 73 before leaving with a shoulder injury. On the defensive side, Mark James picked off a pass and tackle John Snead and DBs Bobby Wall and Curtis Stiles made key plays.

Homecoming against South Rowan did not go according to plan. Even though Davie was on a roll and South had a six-game losing streak dating to 1973, the Raiders stunned Davie 7-6. The War Eagles nearly stole it in the final minute. Anderson gave Davie life by blocking a punt. It took possession at the South 40 and Thorp threw deep to Mark Hendricks, a home-run ball that set up a crazy finish. Hendricks and two South defenders collided and the ball bounced off a defender’s shoulder pads. Wall alertly raced under the ball, snatched it and carried it to the South 5. Davie, though, could not get any closer and time ran out. It lost despite outgaining South 219-124 and holding the Raiders to one first down in the second half.

Ronnie Shoaf of Cooleemee got a hole in one on No. 13 at Twin Cedars. Paul Wagner, Wayne Wagner and David Jordan witnessed the 161-yard ace.

The Davie Truckers men’s softball team was ridiculously good in its first year. It won a 32-team tournament at Smith Grove. Terry Johnson pitched a perfect game, which is unheard-of in slow-pitch softball,  in a breezy 16-0 win over Fritts Motor of Winston-Salem. The championship game was witnessed by approximately 1,000 people.

How much did the Truckers terrorize opponents? It finished the 1974 season with a 98-28 record, it went 27-0 in the league at Smith Grove and it took first in five of 12 tournaments. The team members were Don Eaton, Johnson, Melvin Allred, Jack Tutterow, Preston Carpenter, Otis Ijames, Steve Blackwelder, Dale Ijames, Paul Beaver, Randy McDaniel, Rick Allred, Tony Seaford, Marcus Wilson, Jim Wishon and Bill Summers. The coaches were Tom Whittaker and Louis “Rosie” Rothrock. “When we began the season, almost everyone labeled us as a bunch of hot-headed hot dogs and figured we would be broken up before season’s end,” Whittaker said. “But the men really organized themselves into a fine ball-playing machine.”

Davie’s cross country team was unstoppable, closing the regular season with a 6-0 record. Mike Barnhardt, Barry McBride and Craig Williams tied for first with 15:22 times on Davie’s three-mile course. Kenny Blackwell was fifth at 15:33.

A 21-0 halftime deficit was too much to overcome as Davie’s football team fell 21-12 to North Rowan. In the second half, the Cavaliers lost three fumbles and Davie came fighting back. With 4:09 remaining, Riddle blocked a punt and Wall scooped it up and raced 40 yards for a touchdown to cut the deficit to nine.

Davie’s next game was a nightmare, a 63-0 loss to Mooresville that saw the War Eagles turn the ball over nine times.

The cross country team was on another planet, claiming the Western North Carolina High School Activities Association title with 48 points. Freedom was a distant runner-up at 72. McBride was his usual self, finishing first at 14:48. Williams (fourth at 15:01), Barnhardt (eighth), Blackwell (13th) and Reggie Lyons (22nd) helped coach Burt Barger’s boys haul off the trophy.

Davie’s football team lost in grueling fashion, 21-14,  to North Davidson, with the Black Knights stopping Davie from the 2-yard line in the dying seconds. Davie had a 6-0 lead when Sid Short scampered 22 yards to paydirt. After North surged ahead, Davie tied it 14-14 on a 15-yard pass from Anderson to Maxey. Anderson did all he could with 145 rushing yards.

After enduring four straight losses, Anderson ran for two TDs and the War Eagles had something to celebrate in the final game, an 18-14 upset over East Rowan, which had already clinched first in the North Piedmont Conference. East could not get out of its own way, fumbling the ball away five times and losing on a night when it gained 424 yards to Davie’s 159. The game’s biggest play: Hendricks tackled East’s Rick Vanhoy, ripped out the ball and ran 30 yards for a fumble-return TD that put Davie ahead 18-7. Davie’s defense made a huge stand in the final seconds, holding East out of the end zone after it had reached the Davie 3.