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By Brian Pitts

Enterprise Record

A look back at Davie sports 30 years ago …

The 1994 Davie football team left War Eagle Stadium shaking its head after a maddening 26-24 overtime loss to North Iredell.

The War Eagles had themselves to blame after committing a clipping penalty to erase David Daye’s 92-yard kickoff return and missing three extra points.

They took an 18-12 lead when Deryl Wilson returned a punt 79 yards. The Raiders answered with a tying score, but they had kicking issues themselves and the teams headed to OT tied at 18. Davie got the ball first, and on fourth down from the 2, quarterback Neil Cornatzer rolled left and found a wide-open Justin Carter. The extra point, though, was blocked, leaving Davie’s lead at 24-18. North running back Carl Jones scored from the 10 to tie things, and since North had missed three PATs, it decided to go for two. Jones ran it in to beat the War Eagles. Daniel Brewer and Matt Sain had interceptions in defeat.

The Davie JV football team, which got a touchdown from Aubrey James to open the season with an 8-6 win over North Iredell,  tied Salisbury 14-14. Davie seemed poised for victory when it led 14-6 late, but Salisbury scored on what coach Jerry Walser called “the most unbelievable play I think I’ve ever seen,” and then added the two-point conversion. Matt James was everywhere, setting up quarterback Jonathan Creason’s 1-yard TD with a 55-yard punt return and scoring on a 3-yard run to provide the 14-6 lead. The game was all but over until the Hornets scored on a 75-yard hit-and-pitch. “It was third and a bunch,” Walser said. “They threw to their split end, who tossed it to the back. It ended up a 75-yard touchdown but he ran 75 miles.” It was almost a complete collapse – Davie failed to get a punt off and Salisbury got the ball at the Davie 3 with 30 seconds left. But Davie’s defense made a stand to preserve the tie.

Davie’s varsity came up just short in an 18-12 loss to Salisbury. A Salisbury gamble backfired and helped Davie tie the score. The Hornets called a fake punt, but the ball carrier was smothered by Jonathan Vaughters, Brewer and Josh Ward for a 5-yard loss. D. Daye (92 rushing yards) scored from 15 yards out with 10 minutes left to tie it at 12-12. The Hornets, though, regrouped and won the game with a 14-play drive that chewed eight minutes off the clock.

The varsity War Eagles bounced back for a win they had to have, 21-14 at Forbush, which only managed 105 total yards.  All three TDs were big plays – Cornatzer’s 46-yard pass to Josh Ward, Sain’s 65-yard punt return and a trick play in which Cornatzer tossed a backward pass to Ward, who threw a strike to D. Daye for 46 yards. Ward had his fourth TD catch in four games, Brewer got an INT for the second week in a row and Vaughters ran 13 times for 103 yards.

The Davie boys soccer team was unbeaten after seven games – the record was 3-0-4 – largely because goalie Ben Forrest was playing brilliantly. “Ben has been awesome,” coach Pete Gustafson said. “I can’t even describe how well he’s playing. He’s a pleasure to watch.”

South Davie’s eighth-grade football team lost star JJ Rice to injury early in the game but still found a way to gut out a 14-6 win over North Davie. “That’s probably 75 percent of our team,” South coach Barry Whitlock said. Shante Frazier’s interception led to David Nail’s 20-yard TD run. North answered as Thomas Hunter scored from 8 yards on fourth down. The game’s final TD was a weaving, sideline-to-sideline, 75-yard scamper by South’s Kenny Collins. The South win overshadowed a monstrously productive game by North’s John Daye, who had 15 tackles, two sacks, two fumble recoveries and one forced fumble. “It was the best defensive game we’ve had here in two years,” North coach Ron Kirk said.

Chris Perry and North Davie’s seventh-grade football team pulled out a 20-12 overtime classic against South Davie, which dropped a sure TD on the last play of regulation. Ricky White’s 40-yard run gave South a 6-0 lead. Perry tied it by catching a long pass from Drew Ridenhour. In OT, Perry scored from the 9. South got the ball but fumbled on second down. White had 129 rushing yards in defeat.

The Davie girls cross country team beat North Davidson and South Rowan even though runners – its top three runners, no less – were falling out right and left. Allison Foil pulled a muscle, Beth Wall pulled up lame and Sidra Ledford stepped on a nail. Kelly Robertson (third place at 25:04) and Lynna Hanes (fourth at 25:53) picked up the slack as Davie finished with 31 points to North’s 36.  “Kelly has a lot of heart,” coach Cary Powers said.

Wilson was the star in the varsity football team’s 28-14 win over South Stokes. Not only did he rush for 163 yards, he made 11 tackles on defense.

Davie’s volleyball team nailed down third place in the CPC – and a state playoff berth – behind key production from Maria Newsome, Jonette Williard, Laura Moyer and Katie Desch.

Davie varsity football could hardly have been better in a 41-13 win over Reynolds. Wilson continued his tremendous work, grabbing an interception and two plays later dashing 47 yards to the end zone before finishing with 136 rushing yards. Wilson wasn’t the only two-way stud – Cornatzer ran the show at QB and contributed seven tackles and an INT on defense. D. Daye (72 yards) and Vaughters (65) helped Davie pile up 384 rushing yards and the most points in 11 years.

Davie girls tennis made history by qualifying for the state playoffs for the first time. A 6-3 win over South Rowan put it in third place in the CPC. The singles winners were Tami Ramsey, Beth Campbell, Tiffany Harris and Stephanie Carter. The doubles wins came from Laura Prillaman/Ramsey and Campbell/Harris.

Eric Shook, a scrappy 5-5, 140-pounder, sparked the varsity football team’s 21-0 homecoming win over North Davidson. When North went for it on fourth-and-2, Carter nailed the runner for a 2-yard loss. Three plays later from the Davie 43, Shook reeled in Cornatzer’s bomb and gave Davie a 7-0 lead. Vaughters (141) and Wilson (101) both surpassed 100 rushing yards as Davie improved to 5-4. Afterward, Shook and Allee Boyce picked up the water cooler and tried to drench coach Randall Ward.

North Davie’s eighth-grade team beat West Rowan 22-12 because the Wildcats had Hunter and West did not. Hunter rushed for 251 yards, averaged 18 per carry and added a kickoff-return TD in which he dropped the ball, picked it up and raced 65 yards to cap the scoring. North’s defense delivered two goal-line stands. The ringleader – this won’t surprise you – was J. Daye (15 tackles).

A 26-12 loss at South Rowan was a bitter pill to swallow for Davie’s varsity, which would have clinched a playoff berth with a win. The disparity in penalty yards – 150 for Davie, 10 for South – had coach Randall Ward fuming. That was compounded by three fumbles. South scored 19 unanswered points after Davie took a 12-7 lead into the fourth. D. Daye’s 65-yard TD and Wilson’s 81-yard score and 175 rushing yards became footnotes. “If you physically beat us and out-execute us, that’s fine,” Ward said. “That’s the way it’s supposed to be played. But it’s not the way it was played tonight. I’m as upset as I’ve ever been in coaching.”

Davie’s JV finished 5-3-2 after a 0-0 tie with West Forsyth. “I don’t have a sister,” Walser said. “So do I get to kiss somebody else’s sister?” Scott Cornatzer’s INT killed a West drive, James had a 32-yard punt return and 69 yards on nine carries, and Creason earned praise for his play at defensive end. “Creason is showing shades of being another Justin Carter,” Walser said. “He may be undersized but he makes up for it with a mean streak.”