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Tabor Prevails In OT, Leaves 6,000 Fans Shellshocked
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| Justin Thompson reacts in agony after John MacDonald’s overtime field goal seals Davie’s fate. - Photo by James Barringer |
Mount Tabor, though, refused to play along in the festivities, ruining the party 24-21 in overtime. A crowd of roughly 6,000 folks found the outcome hard to believe, even without Kenny Rivers, the star receiver who suffered a season-ending injury the week before. The War Eagles were 6-0 overall, 1-0 in the Central Piedmont Conference, ranked No. 4 in the 4-A state and hadn’t scored fewer than 42 points all year. The Spartans have a lot of talent, but it’s young talent. Thus, Davie figured to make amends for last year’s 40-7 drubbing at Tabor. What’s more, Davie had carved up North Forsyth 42-14, while Tabor (5-2, 2-0 CPC) lost to the same North Forsyth 29-7.
But Davie couldn’t get out of its own way and lost in agonizing fashion, failing to score from the Tabor 1 on its final two offensive plays in OT and watching Tabor trot out its kicker for a chip-shot, game-clinching field goal.
“We wanted to go undefeated,” Davie quarterback Garrett Benge said. “We’ve got to learn to beat teams like this, and now we know what we’re up against.”
The reality of finding themselves tied with Reynolds for second - one game behind Tabor and West Forsyth, which meet Friday in a huge swing game - was numbing.
“It hurts bad,” senior linebacker Mark Huggins said. “Everybody thought it would be a good game, but they didn’t think it would turn out like this. But we made mistakes.”
“This is my senior year and this one really hurts me,” right tackle Tony Steele said. “It was a dogfight til the end like the West Rowan game, and it really hurts us that we lost. We should have won.”
Chris Kinard broke the school record for receptions in a game with 10, but that honor was of little solace.
“I’d give all those catches, yards and anything I had back to win this game,” he said. “You do it for the team. I was trying to do it for Kenny, but I feel like I let him down.”
This isn’t the position the War Eagles wanted with their sights set on a fourth straight CPC title. But coach Doug Illing said it isn’t the end of the world, either, that Davie can bounce back for a piece of the crown like it did after a bitter loss to West Forsyth in ‘03 and an embarrassing setback to Tabor in ‘05. If red-hot West wins at Tabor, and Davie ... subscribe to the Davie County Enterprise Record, P.O. Box 99, Mocksville, N.C. 27028.