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By Brian Pitts

Enterprise Record

One week after Jayce Bentley put up 123 receiving yards in the season-opening win over Mooresville, Ian Patton stole the spotlight in the Davie JV football team’s 40-26 win at West Rowan on Aug. 29.

Patton was a breakout star with six catches for 138 yards.

“Ian had an incredible night,” offensive coordinator Matt Gould said of the sophomore. “It was one of those things where the matchups and how they were playing, Ian had a great matchup and we were on his side of the field. He stepped up and made a bunch of plays.”

Davie exploded to a 20-0 lead in the first quarter. The Falcons showed heart by pulling within 20-13 at halftime and tying things at 20 in the third quarter. But Davie immediately responded with a tiebreaking touchdown, and it sailed the rest of the way.

One of Patton’s connections with quarterback Draeton Nance was a 32-yard TD.

“Ian’s one of the better athletes,” Gould said. “He caught a couple little flat routes, broke some tackles, got up the sidelines and showed a little speed. In his second year, I think he’s more comfortable. He went out there and made plays we haven’t seen from him. It was his breakout night.

“They were paying a lot of attention to Noah (Dulin). Ian and Noah are on the same side, they bit on Noah and Drae threw a perfect ball to the sideline and Ian was wide open.”

Nance was impressive in his second high school game. Not only did he complete 13 of 20 passes for 225 yards and two TDs, he ran for three scores.

“Drae had a great night,” Gould said.

“(Nance) had some really good passes throughout the night,” coach Spencer Pasciolla said.

Bentley (6-62 receiving) played a big role for the second week in a row. Noah Dulin, Cam Knox and Blake French had one catch each.

“Jayce had a good night, too,” Gould said. “It was just how they were playing their defense. They left (Patton and Bentley) with good one-on-ones and we were able to take advantage.”

Brandon Forrest (five carries for 55 yards) and Javon Carter (12-54 rushing) complemented the passing game by combining for 109 rushing yards.

“We have multiple guys who can carry the ball, and that’s always a good thing,” Pasciolla said. “We were fresh and they weren’t. That helped us out a lot.”

Defensively, the headliners were linemen Jathan Redmond and Ean Click and linebackers Luke Foster, Jackson Meadwell and Finley Sink.

“I thought Jathan had a really good night,” Pasciolla said. “He played really well off the edge, as did Ean Click. I noticed Luke Foster and Jackson Meadwell every time I looked up. I saw Finley Sink make some really good plays.”

On the offensive line, Gould said tackles Aiden Houser and Sammy Angell deserved some praise. Christian Collins got a few snaps at tackle.

“We were able to get a lot of the passes out on time and hit a couple of big runs,” Gould said. “Our tackles were able to seal the edge a lot on those big runs and let us get to the outside.”