Throughout the season, Chad Grier’s Davidson Day Patriots have talked about one date in particular: Nov. 11.
It’s the date toward which the Patriots have been building, when they have said they want to play their best.
“We’ve got that shot now,” Grier said following his team’s 31-0 win over Fayetteville Christian at Hopewell High last Friday. “Our big thing now is ‘finish.’”
Davidson Day (10-1) will face Fayetteville’s Trinity Christian (4-5) Friday at 7:30 p.m. at Charlotte’s Johnson C. Smith University in the N.C. Independent Schools Athletic Association’s Division III title game. The game is a rematch of the 62-34 Davidson Day win from Aug. 26 and one Grier has expected.
“Their record isn’t any way indicative of how good they are,” said Grier.
Trinity features a star running back in 6-foot-2, 205-pound Andrew Brown, who scored on a 26-yard run and an 85-yard kickoff return in the first meeting. Grier said Brown might be the best high school back he’s seen.
“I’m not looking forward to tackling that guy again,” Grier said. “He’s pretty good.”
But Trinity struggled to contain Davidson Day’s passing offense. Will Grier threw for 478 yards and six touchdowns in what was the Patriots’ second game of the season.
Davidson Day’s “home” game at J.C. Smith will be its second played there this year. The Patriots beat Village Christian 59-16 there on Sept. 9.
Trinity advanced from the other pairing in the four-team bracket with a 37-14 win over Victory Christian.
Cleaning it up
It took the Patriots some time to get rolling against Fayetteville Christian, in part because of two first-half turnovers inside the Warriors’ 5-yard line. That included a first-quarter fumbled snap and a tipped pass interception in the second. The Patriots led 12-0 at the half, after two Will Grier touchdown passes to Jordan Young (60 and 6 yards), but Coach Grier wasn’t happy.
“Those silly turnovers, we’ve got to clean that up,” he said.
There was also a plethora of dropped passes, which kept the Patriots from continuing multiple drives. But the Patriots took a three-score lead on their second possession of the second half, scoring on a 4-yard end-around run by Jordan Brown. Then Grier hit Mike Stevens for a 65-yard scoring pass on the next drive and hit Aaron Seward from 30 yards out with 8:40 to play to close the scoring.
Grier finished 32-of-55 passing for 475 yards, four touchdowns and the one interception. He also played some at safety, as he has sporadically the past few games.
Stevens (96), Seward (96), Young (121) and Evan Gates (122) combined for 435 receiving yards.
PATs
The Patriots’ helmets are adorned with two stickers this season. A black circle with the initials “JI” is in memory of James Illing, who recently passed away. His son, Chad Illing, is a Patriots assistant coach. The green ribbon to the circle’s right is in honor of a young Patriots fan who is battling a rare form of cancer. ... Tre Hunt had 11 tackles and two sacks to lead the Patriots defense against Fayetteville Christian. Stevens picked off two passes and recovered a fumble. H. Strachan and Jacob Robinson also had interceptions, and Strachan and Grayson Buck also recovered fumbles. ... Davidson Day converted on multiple fourth down attempts, including a fourth-and-4 from its own 31 in the first half. The Patriots gained 24 yards on the play. ... At one point of last Friday’s game, the Patriots had five freshmen playing on defense. “The future, we’re really excited about that,” said Chad Grier, who has plenty to be excited about in the present, too.
