Titans, War Eagles set for showdown Friday night

Published 12:00 am Thursday, October 13, 2022

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By Jay Spivey
For the Clemmons Courier 

West Forsyth had plenty of bright spots last Friday at Reagan, but came up just short in a 42-39 loss.
Friday night, the schedule doesn’t get any easier because Davie County will make the short trek to Clemmons for Homecoming at Jerry Peoples Stadium.
An upcoming game can’t be judged on paper, but both teams are 2-5 overall. West Forsyth is 2-2 in the Central Piedmont 4-A, and Davie County is 1-3.
“It’s part of it,” Coach Adrian Snow of West Forsyth said. “You’ve got to line up and be ready to play. And hopefully our kids will be ready and go from there.”
As for Davie County, it lost to Mount Tabor 32-25 in Mocksville last Friday.
“We kind of just ran out of time, didn’t execute one possession on offense when we should have. We couldn’t get a timely stop on defense,” Coach Tim Devericks of Davie County said. “It’s been a huge season of momentum. If they seize the momentum, they keep the momentum. And momentum plays a huge role in high school sports.
“With a fairly young team, just getting them to understand there’s going to be highs and lows, but our execution has to be maintained throughout those highs and lows.”
After Davie County, West Forsyth plays host to Reynolds (2-5, 1-3) and finishes the regular season at East Forsyth (7-0, 4-0).
“It’s tough, 2-2,” Jordan Stephens of West Forsyth said. “I feel like we’ve got to win Davie, Reynolds and East to stay in the league. There’s going to be some tough games, but we’ve still got to keep fighting, keep pushing, and come together as a team.”
Davie County finished the game against Mount Tabor (6-1, 3-1) with 267 total yards, but 223 of it came from the passing of quarterback Ty Miller, a 6-foot-2, 195-pound junior. Miller was 20-of-42 passing with three touchdowns and one interception. He also rushed for 40 yards on eight carries.
“I think he’s doing well,” Devericks said of Miller. “He’s doing some good things in all the games. He’s made a few mistakes but progressing to understand, ‘Now I can throw it away instead of trying to fit it in somewhere or something.’ He is showing some growth and maturity.”
Junior Markel Summers had 86 receiving yards on nine catches. Senior Brodie Smith had touchdown receptions of 60 and 9 yards.
The War Eagles gave up 521 yards of offense to the Spartans last week.
“We’ve done job at times of stopping the run and pass. And other times, it’s been a struggle for us,” Devericks said. “I think it’s the competition that we’re facing.”
“I’ve watched (Davie) just because they played Reagan (two weeks ago), so I’ve watched them a little bit,” Snow said. “You’ve just got to make some plays. It’s really not a hard game. You’ve just got to block, tackle and do the best you can.”
In an eight-team conference, Davie County has a unique way of getting ready for games.
“The way we view that, we’re kind of like the outsider,” Devericks said. “We’re not in Forsyth County, so we have to show up every week and be ready to go.”
As the lone team outside of Forsyth County, it’s bulletin-board material for the War Eagles.
“It’s easy motivation week-to-week,” Devericks said. “There’s no problem with that.”
West Forsyth has won four of the last five games in the series, but each game has been close. The most lopsided game was last year when West Forsyth won 35-14 in Mocksville.
“We probably have to feed off the crowd,” Stephens said. “I think it’ll be a better game — go to practice, get in the lab, fix everything we messed up (against Reagan), then come back and beat Davie. Every week we’re getting better. And if we keep doing what we’re doing in the lab we should beat them.”
Devericks enjoys the rivalry.
“It’s awesome,” Devericks said. “I think it’s two schools close in proximity, a lot of the same makeup as far as the kids in the school, and two schools that have a lot of pride within their school.”
No matter the rivalry between Davie County and West Forsyth, West Forsyth is just happy to be at home after playing consecutive road games at Glenn and Reagan the last two weeks.
“It’s kind of fun to be there,” Snow said. “It keeps you in a good place.”