Davenport dominates William Jewell 55-27 to remain undefeated

CALEDONIA, Mich. — The Davenport football team performed well in all three phases of the game on Saturday afternoon in a 55-27 win over William Jewell in the first meeting between the schools. For Davenport, it wrapped up a 3-0 start to the season with all of those wins coming at home. The offense gained 463 total yards including 224 on the ground, the defense limited the Cardinals to 218 total yards and had five sacks and 15 tackles for loss, and finally the Panthers scored on a blocked punt return and punt return.

The same recipe happened for the offense as they scored on their first drive for the third straight game. After forcing a three-and-out on William Jewell's opening drive, the Panthers marched 50 yards in nine plays capped off with an eight-yard touchdown pass from Jason Whittaker to Peyton Brown. The defense was dominant in the first quarter as they limited the Cardinals to minus-6 yards of total offense and 0-for-4 on third down. In the second quarter, DU increased their lead to 14-0 as Caleef Jenkins plunged into the end zone from one yard out. William Jewell got a big play on their next drive as Keshaun McCullough raced 70 yards on the first play to the DU four-yard line. CJ Ward then found Livingston Benoit for a four-yard touchdown two plays later to make it 14-7.

Davenport answered back on a five-play, 64-yard drive and Jenkins this time carried for two yards into the end zone with 9:44 left until halftime. The special teams got into the action on WJC's next possession as a punt was blocked by Kian Betancourt and Nick Pulley scooped it up on the run and ran 39 yards to paydirt for a 28-7 lead. William Jewell then would score the next 20 points, but the defense did hold them to two field goals in the third quarter and led 28-27 with 2:47 left in the third quarter. The Panthers needed a big play and got one on their next drive. Myren Harris took the pass behind the line of scrimmage and rolled to his left before fooling the defense and throwing a 33-yard touchdown pass to Preston Smith for the last score of the quarter for a 35-27 lead.

The special teams struck again in the early stages of the fourth quarter. Demetrius Garrett returned a punt 70 yards for a score after initially bobbling the ball and then picking it up. It was the first punt return for a touchdown by a Panther since Nate Couturier back on Nov. 16, 2019. The floodgates opened from there as Harris ripped off a school-record, 75-yard touchdown run with 7:52 remaining for a 48-27 advantage. The final score came with 1:14 to play when Jaier Harden jumped over the pile for a one-yard score capping off a 71-yard drive which lasted 5:30.

Geemontae Peck wreaked havoc in the backfield all day long with five tackles including three tackles for loss, two sacks and four quarterback hurries. Austin Alward also had five tackles including two tackles for loss and 1.5 sacks. Xavier Marquez led the defense with six tackles and had 1.5 tackles for loss. The offense got Peyton Brown back after a one-game absence and caught six passes for 108 yards and the first quarter score. Harris finished with 12 carries for 129 yards and had his second straight 100-yard rushing performance.

The Panthers (3-0) will open GLIAC play next Saturday with a 1:00 PM kickoff scheduled at Michigan Tech (3-0).