The Wildcats (7-3, 3-1 GWOC National East) were No. 6 in Division I, Region 3 this week and figure to land in that spot or close to it when the playoff pairings are announced Sunday. The possible destinations figure to be Pickerington Central, Hilliard Bradley, Dublin Coffman or Upper Arlington.
“It feels great,” said Davis, who rushed for 111 yards and had 80 receiving yards. “I’ve been here for four years. First year we were 0-10 and this is our first winning season. It’s good to go out with a bang.”
The defense was on its heels in the second half, trying to cling to a 21-7 halftime lead. The Firebirds (1-9, 0-4) opened the half with a drive of almost nine minutes to score on Jesse Deglow’s 10-yard run.
The Firebirds drove again to the Wildcats’ 6 but fumbled. Then the Firebirds drove from their 22 in the final 4:29 with only runs and a personal-foul penalty that kept the drive alive. They reached the three with 35 seconds left and used their last timeout.
Darnell Boulware plunged to the one on second down. He was stopped for no gain on third down. On fourth down the Firebirds were confused and snapped the ball after time expired to end the game. Victory felt good, but the second-half performance made no one happy.
“We just got in trouble for that,” Davis said of the postgame speeches by the coaches. “It’s over now, but we just have to bounce back. Because next week if we play like that it’s not going to be good.”
Davis was in the middle of all the points. He caught a 6-yard touchdown pass from Leonard Taylor and scored on a 70-yard run. His 34-yard reception set up the other score, a 15-yard run by Shane Ramey.
“The first half the linemen blocked perfectly,” Davis said. “On that scamper I had it was wide open. Anybody could’ve run through that. I give all the glory to the linemen and to God.”
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