Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

By Brian Pitts

Enterprise Record

A look back at Davie sports 30 years ago …

Lee Puckett and Jason Murphy flexed their muscles in the fourth quarter as North Davie’s freshman boys basketball team turned back South Davie’s upset bid.

The Tigers trailed 50-47 after the third quarter, but North poured in 30 points in the last eight minutes to win 81-70. Murphy scored 13 of his 21 points in the decisive fourth, and Puckett led all scorers with 28.

• Even though Mt. Tabor’s wrestling team took the last two weight classes to force a 29-29 tie with Davie, the match went down as a Davie victory.

“We won seven matches, they won six,” coach Buddy Lowery said. “So we win by criteria.”

Davie’s biggest win came from James Coulston, who edged Jon Bowman 6-5 to give Davie a 29-19 lead. Coulston stayed perfect at 20-0, while Bowman slipped to 21-3.

• North Davie’s wrestling team and Trinity tied for first place with 12-1 records, but the Wildcats earned the top seed because of a win over the Bulldogs.

Nathan Ferree (83 pounds), David Potts (116), Jeff Wilson (130) and David Daye (144) all went 13-0 in the regular season.

• Brad Van Hoy, a senior spot-up shooter for Davie’s varsity boys basketball team, torched South Rowan at home. He went 7 for 7 from three-point range as Davie stopped a 20-game losing streak in the CPC and blew out the Raiders 84-53.

“I told the boys we can all improve,” coach Charles Crenshaw said. “Van Hoy took it to heart. About halfway through, he said: ‘I’m not going home a loser tonight.’ Then he went out and did something about it.”

Van Hoy, who did all his scoring from long range, broke the program record for 3s in a game, the old mark belonging to Charlie Crenshaw, who drained six triples against Parkland in 1990.

“Van Hoy practices hard and is the most supportive guy we’ve got,” Crenshaw said. “On the bench, he’s congratulating people. He’s just a super kid.”

Davie also got big performances from Brandon Scott (16 points, 10 rebounds), David Snyder (14 points, 12 rebounds) and Bubba Coleman (12 points, five steals, four assists).

• As a second-year program, Davie’s boys swim team finished third in the CPC championship meet at Grimsley. Brian Tribble broke the CPC record in the 100 butterfly at 54.82.

The best finish for the Davie girls was third place in the 400 relay (Stephanie Carter, Gretchen Umberger, Lori Vogler and Allison Ward).

• With the score close in the fourth quarter, South Davie’s seventh/eighth boys basketball coach Barry Whitlock sent Scott Carter into the game. Carter responded with 4-for-4 foul shooting and the Tigers held off North Davie 49-42.

“I put him in with three minutes left because I knew they’d foul,” Whitlock said. “He made me look good. He’s a very good free-throw shooter.”

South was led by Josh Barnhardt (17 points) and Frankie Tatum (15).

• North Davie’s seventh/eighth girls basketball won 23-16 over South Davie behind Erin Umberger (eight points, six rebounds, two blocks), Leslie Holcomb (six points) and Wendi Cartner (seven rebounds). South got six points from Angie Priestley and four from Laura Correll.

• In the state dual final, Davie wrestling suffered a gut-wrenching 26-22 loss at Cary after taking a 19-0 lead.

“I think we outwrestled them,” coach Buddy Lowery said. “But there were some questionable calls. There’s a bunch of disappointed boys. I don’t know what to say to them.”

Davie won the first six weight classes. Chris Marello won in overtime at 103. Josh Whitley won 8-6 at 112. Scotty Spry won 8-5 at 119. Matt Wilson won in overtime at 125. Jon Ward won 11-3 at 130. And after trailing 6-3, Matt Sain rallied 10-7 at 135. When Mark Mason rolled 7-1 at 145, Davie had a 22-3 cushion. But things unraveled and Davie finished with a 20-2-1 record.

• In the Midwest Regional, Davie qualified six for the state tournament, including champions at 119 (Spry) and 130 (Ward). The other state qualifiers were Mason, Coulston, Brad Groce and Benjy Frye.

• In the swimming Western Regional, Tribble qualified for the state in four events. He was third in the butterfly with a personal-best time of 53.96 and fourth in the 50 free at 22.63. Tribble, Cam Kofke, Seth Newman and Bryan McNeil were eighth in the 400 and ninth in the 200. The top 12 advanced.

• The North Davie boys basketball team closed the season with a 12-2 record by avenging one of its losses. Puckett and Murphy dominated as usual as coach Darrell Steele’s Wildcats beat South Rowan 77-63. Puckett went 12 of 19 from the line to score 26 points. Murphy compiled 18 points and 20 boards. Tim Gilbreath chipped in 10 points.

• Spry and Ward became wrestling state champions at the Greensboro Coliseum. Spry took first at 119 and finished his sophomore season 31-2.  Ward won it at 130, went 35-1 as a senior and finished his career at 99-7.

Coulston finished fourth at 171 and went 31-3 for the year.

• In the state swim meet at Koury Natatorium in Chapel Hill, Tribble made all-state in two events – second in the 50 free at 21.58 and third in the 100 butterfly at 51.96. The 200 free relay team of Tribble, McNeil, Kofke and Newman placed 15th.

• In the first round of the CPC Tournament, the seventh-seeded Davie boys basketball team pulled a huge shocker by knocking off No. 2 Reynolds 64-59.

While Davie improved to 8-16, Reynolds stumbled to 17-6. The Demons destroyed Davie by 30 and 24 points in the regular season.

Coleman was the catalyst with 17 points, seven assists and four steals. He scored the last five points of the game.

“Nobody in this gym thought we could win but us,” Crenshaw said. “We played our hearts out.”

“They outplayed us,” Reynolds coach Howard West said. “They outhustled us. They outscrapped us. The team that deserved to win the game won the game.”

Reynolds’ 6-11 big man, Jiri Formanek, hit two free throws to tie the game at 59. Davie went to its weave offense. Coleman dashed past his defender, scored off the glass and was fouled, giving Davie a 62-59 lead at :39.

Reynolds couldn’t get the ball inbounded with four seconds left. It called a timeout that it did not have, resulting in a technical foul. Coleman hit two free throws to ice it.

Earlier, Jared Eure drilled a 3-pointer to tie it at 57. Then Davie took a 59-57 lead on a Gerald Roberts drive.

“Reynolds is an awesome team,” Crenshaw said. “But we never believed we’d lose.”

• Andrea Gentry (triple-double) and Shannon Umberger (double-double) sparked Davie girls basketball to a 67-52 win over Glenn in the first round of the playoffs. Gentry collected 14 points, 13 assists and 10 steals. Umberger racked up 14 points and 15 rebounds as Davie pushed its record to 20-7. Davie had four double-figure scorers, including Tamica Cain (13) and Maria Newsome (11).

• Brad Mecham had a home run, three hits and six RBIs as Davie baseball embarrassed West Forsyth 22-1. Davie scored 16 runs in the fourth inning on nine hits, five walks, three errors and six wild pitches. Mecham had a two-run double and a two-run homer in the inning.

Mecham and Marcus King both went 3 for 4. King went the distance on the mound and fanned nine.

• Pitcher Justin Draughn struck out 15 in a one-hitter to lead North Davie past South Davie, 8-3.

“I saw he could be a pitcher last summer,” coach Mike Dinkins said. “He even struck out two batters with a knuckleball.”