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| Titan running back Brad Brower is stopped by a pair of Davie defenders. |
Davie, led by the quarterback play of Garrett Benge, applied it constantly. West, on the other hand, failed to adjust to it.
The resulting 30-6 War Eagle win sent the visiting Titans home with their first loss in Central Piedmont Conference play. It also created a three-way tie for the top spot in the CPC between West, Davie and Mount Tabor. Pending the outcome of this Friday’s final games of the regular season (Davie and Tabor are prohibitive favorites against East Rowan and South Rowan respectively), the conference race will most likely end that way.
If it does, West, which has a bye this week, will join both Davie and Mount Tabor in a three-way drawing that will decide the conference seeding order for the state playoffs. The same scenario unfolded last season and West was lucky enough to draw the number one seed.
Luck, however, was in short supply for the Titans in Monday’s standing-room-only battle. Hoping for a stellar performance against a Davie team that was ranked among the top five in the state prior to a loss against Mount Tabor earlier in the season, the Titans were unable to create the big breaks when they needed them. The loss of running backs Brad Brower and Jeff Gonza to ankle sprains combined with untimely penalties and turnovers kept West on the ropes throughout the night.
The War Eagles got off to a blazing start, scoring touchdowns on their first three drives and taking a 20-0 lead just two seconds into the second quarter.
West, which lost Brower early in the second period, advanced the ball into Davie territory on several occasions but failed to score each time.
The Titans finally managed to break through on the opening drive of the second half with a 59-yard march that took just five plays. Receiver Travaughn Long made the biggest gain of the drive with a leaping catch inside the Davie 10 for a 23-yard gain. Gonza recorded the score when he fell on a Hughes fumble in the end zone with 10:10 left in the third period.
The Titan defense held on the ensuing drive but Davie put the game away one possession later when Benge capped off a quick 44-yard march with a one-yard sneak for a touchdown.
West is now 8-3 overall.