Homecoming King Reigns On Gridiron

Britton-Hecla senior and homecoming king BoDell Davidson had a hand in seven touchdowns to lead the Braves to a 52-14 homecoming victory over Waverly-South shore on Friday.

The win gives the Braves a 2-1 season mark heading into a 7 p.m. home battle with unbeaten Hamlin on Friday.

Davidson scored on runs of 48, 37, and five yards, passed for touchdowns from 35, 30, and 10 yards out, returned a fumble 43 yards to paydirt, and ended up with 246 passing yards and 144 yards running the football. He also had a 56yard scoring run negated on a penalty.

“Bo had an awesome game, one of the best individual games that I have seen at the high school level,” said BH boss Jacob Skogstad. “Our offensive line did a great job opening up holes and the receivers made some awesome plays after the catch.

“I felt our team did what we should do on a weekly basis offensively and defensively last week. The main difference that I saw was our ability to punch in scores after long drives as opposed to stalling out against Florence-Henry.”

Evidence of that improvement came on the Braves second possession of the game. Skogstad’s crew put together its’ best drive of the contest, going 79 yards in 10 plays. Freshman Bryce Hawkinson capped that drive when he took a screen pass on fourth and 11 from Davidson and scampered 30 yards to paydirt.

B-H scored again just 34 seconds into the second stanza. Dawson Treeby, who led the Braves in receiving with three catches for 69 yards, grabbed a Davidson toss for 35 yards to the Coyotes’ five, and Davidson scored two plays later. Then Collin Beaner pounced on a second down W-SS fumble to put the Braves back in business.

This time the local gridders went 60 yards in five plays, ending with a 35-yard Davidson pass to Beaner and the Braves led 18-0 with 9:13 remaining in the first half.

Skogstad called for an onside kick following the score and kicker Davidson recovered his own boot. The Braves didn’t score on that possession, but after a three-and-out, put together an eight-play, 57yard drive. Davidson hit Gage Storley from 10 yards out for a 24-0 lead with 2:51 on the second quarter clock.

Britton-Hecla’s defense did not allow a first down on Waverly-South Shore’s first five possessions, but the Coyotes finally got untracked. Aided by a pair of pass interference penalties, W-SS drove 64 yards and cut the margin to 24-6 at halftime.

The visitors made things interesting in the second half. Their opening drive went 67 yards and cut the margin to 24-14 at the 7:15 mark of the third period. Gage Storley ran the ensuing kickoff back to the Coyotes’ 44 and after a penalty Davidson broke loose from 56 yards out, but that score was called back on a holding call and the Braves punted.

After the Coyotes stopped the Braves on a fourth and goal and took over on their own one, the visitors were on the move with a pair of first downs and trailing just 24-14 with eight minutes to play. But then the floodgates opened for the home team with a 28-point explosion in the final eight minutes.

Gage Storley intercepted a pass and on first down Davidson scored on a 37-yard run to make it 32-14 with 7:54 to pay. Then on a third and 10 the Coyotes completed a 16-yard pass for a first down but the ball was pried loose, Davidson snatched it out of the air, and he rumbled 43 yards for another score.

Dashel Davidson recovered a fumble on the following kickoff and on first down BoDell Davidson found the end zone once again, this time from 48 yards out. Reserve Daniel Person put the icing on the cake when he scored on a 22-yard run with 1:03 remaining for the final 38-point margin.

The Braves dominated statistically, holding a 476175 yardage advantage. The defense allowed just 15 rushing yards on 19 tries – a paltry .8-yard per carry average – and forced four turnovers compared to just one for BH.