Charlotte Latin falls behind early, overtakes Davidson Day School

The Charlotte Latin Hawks turned a wide-open first half against Davidson Day School into a classic grind-it-out struggle in the second half, pulling away for a 38-19 victory in an NCISAA football game at Hough on Monday night.

Quarterback Bates Jones completed 17 of 21 passes for 275 yards and three touchdowns and ran for another for the undefeated Hawks, who overcame an early deficit and wrapped up the win with three time-consuming scoring drives in the second half.

Nolan Groulx scored all three touchdowns for Davidson Day, two on runs of 5 and 1 yards and another on a 5-yard pass from quarterback Sam Hartman, who finished with 305 yards passing in a 19-of-31 performance.

Groulx’s second touchdown, on a 5-yard run with 46 seconds to play in the first quarter, was the high point of the evening for the Patriots, a 13-7 lead that disappeared early in the second quarter.

Jones tossed a 67-yard scoring strike to Melvin Rouse on the first play of the quarter for a 14-13 lead, and the Hawks’ Chris Elliott recovered a fumble at the Davidson Day 10 two plays after the kickoff. Jones scored on a 6-yard keeper two plays after that for a 21-13 lead.

The Patriots closed the gap to 21-19 at halftime. Groulx crashed in from one yard out with 5 minutes, 42 seconds left before the break, ending a 67-yard drive. Davidson Day wouldn’t have the ball for that long on one possession for the rest of the game.

The Hawks’ best defense in the second half was an offense that wouldn’t get off the field. Davidson Day ran just six plays in the third quarter, and Charlotte Latin extended its lead to 28-19 after three quarters on a 6-yard pass from Jones to Demarkes Stradford.

Charlotte Latin added a 20-yard field goal by Andrew Bowen with 8 minutes left and wrapped things up with a marathon 96-yard drive in the final minutes after turning away a threat by Davidson Day.

Stradford, who finished with 91 yards on 19 carries, ran it in from 17 yards with 29 seconds to play.

Records: Charlotte Latin 8-0 overall. 2-0 in NCISAA Division I; Davidson Day is 5-2, 3-1.

Worth mentioning: Charlotte Latin’s scoring drives were 13, 11 and 12 plays in the second half.

What’s Next: Charlotte Latin is off until a big Division I game at Charlotte Christian on Oct. 21. Davidson Day will play at Statesville Christian on Friday.

This story was originally published October 10, 2016 at 11:08 PM with the headline "Charlotte Latin falls behind early, overtakes Davidson Day School."