Focus on high school football D-I playoffs
By Rick Cassano
Staff Writer
MIDDLETOWN — They look at him and can’t believe it. Zach Davis has seen the look. He sees it all the time.
This guy?
“Yeah, this guy,” Middletown High School football coach Troy Everhart said. “If we had 11 guys like him, we would never lose.”
Davis is listed at 5-foot-9 and 222 pounds. Maybe the height is a little generous. Whatever. He doesn’t deal in numbers anyway.
He is effort. All-out effort. All the time. That’s how you become a dominant nose guard when you’re facing guys much bigger than you week after week after week.
He is David with a slingshot on autofire. Goliath keeps falling.
“What everybody tells me is it’s my heart,” Davis said. “If I have heart and I take that guy’s heart away from him, I’m going to win. I know every offensive lineman comes out and thinks, ‘Oh, this little guy, we’re going to kill him.’
“So the first play, I hit him right in the mouth,” he continued. “Once I beat ’em there, that just kind of drains them. They’re like, ‘Oh my God, this guy.’ ”
A worker works
Middletown is 9-1 and preparing for a Division I-Region 4 home game Saturday night against Centerville.
Davis loves it. It’s a grand stage and a very big deal, especially for a senior. But his coaches are sure he’d be just as locked in lining up in somebody’s backyard.
“He doesn’t need a stadium full of people,” Middies defensive coordinator Joe Snively said. “He just wants to play football. He’s kind of an old soul in that sense. For us older guys, that’s the stuff we loved in the game. He’s got that mentality.”
It’s the kind of stuff you can’t teach. Drive. Desire. Pride. Lots of pride.
Everhart watches him every day and is thankful. Coaches want to win. But what coaches want more than anything is to have kids that listen and throw every ounce of their being onto the field of play.
“In today’s day and age where kids are worried about how many stars they’ve got or what they’re listening to on their iPhone or what shoes they’re wearing, this guy’s worrying about playing hard every snap,” Everhart said. “That’s why old guys like me will talk about young guys like him forever. As a coach, those are the stories I’m going to tell.
“We’ll forget the other guys,” he added. “You scored a couple touchdowns? That’s great. Guys that have raw athletic talent and use it to maybe half its potential, those are just guys. Guys that are 5-7, 222 pounds and dominate guys almost twice their size, I’ve never seen it. I’m going to remember that guy.”
Middletown has the No. 1 defense in the Greater Miami Conference. The Middies are giving up 204.7 yards per game.
Davis is certainly not alone in creating that success. Not even close. College recruiters would be quick to point that out.
But Davis does run the point. He’s right on the ball. He sets the tone. He starts the havoc.
“He’s a dynamo as far as energy,” Snively said. “I guess you could say he is the prototypical team player. Whatever we ask him to do, he’ll do, and he’ll do it fast and with heart.
“Is he getting all the headlines and limelight and recruiting and all those kinds of things that some people think make you a great player? I don’t know,” he continued. “But I can tell you this: My son’s on the sideline with us, and that’s the kid that I tell him, ‘This is who you want to be like.’ That’s what I want him to emulate.”
In the trenches
Davis wasn’t always a nose guard. Indeed, he grew up as an offensive lineman. He believes that background is vital.
“Because I played on the O-line, I know what they’re expected to do,” Davis said. “Before the play, if I see their splits are this big or that big, I know they’re doing this, this and this. I just need to read my keys.”
He’s not simply a tireless worker. Snively said Davis is a student of the game. He watches a lot of film. He studies technique.
Davis is also a lot more athletic than he looks.
“I coached his dad at Monroe back in the day,” Snively said. “Joe was a nose guard and played some O-line. He was like Zach, the same tough, physical guy. He played with a lot of passion.”
His parents, Joe and Angela, are serious about football. Zach will tell you. They push him.
“Everything is about football,” Davis said. “I’ll go home and slap my mom’s hands when she tries to give me a hug just to practice everything. She’ll do it with me. I’ll walk by her and she’ll chest-bump me. Bam! I’ll be like, ‘OK, you got me that time.’
“Then my dad gets on me if I’m not doing something that involves helping me with football,” he added. “He’ll be like, ‘Whatcha doing?’ I’m about to go watch films, sir.”
Yes, football is serious business in the Davis family. Zach’s fine with it. He’s serious on the field too. He loves his boys, but if their motor is idling, he’ll do something about it.
Opponents have learned that Davis can be a huge pain to their plans. Double teams. Triple teams. The not-so-big guy draws a lot of attention these days.
“The only answer I’ve seen is Princeton took three 300-pound kids, give or take five pounds, and ran them all at him,” Everhart said. “And he still held his own. Ain’t nobody base blocking Zach Davis. Not in this league or any other.”
Bring it on. That’s how Davis feels. Send as many guys as you want. If he’s getting blocked by a threesome of beef, Davis is sure that linebackers Dylan Rowe and Brad Carr will feast on the situation.
And don’t be so sure that special measures by opponents will always be successful. Sometimes the warrior can’t be stopped.
“I’ve always been a fighter,” Davis said. “I’ve come out 120,000 percent. I’m never going to give a play up. I’m always going to make sure that guy on the other side feels me.”
The desire to help
Ask Davis about his personal goals this season and he’ll tell you about mentoring younger players. He thinks it’s important, part of being a Middie.
Last year, guys like his brother Joe and Chris Short helped him. He hasn’t forgotten.
Davis wants to be a teacher and a coach. It’s no surprise. He’s the kind of individual that wants to be involved, that cares about the person next to him.
His classmates? He can’t talk enough about them.
“I take all of this personally because I look to my right and I look to my left, and I’m thinking, ‘I can’t let these guys down,’ “ Davis said. “I’m going to do whatever I can to help these guys. That’s how it is.”
This senior class is 28-2 in the regular season over the last three years, losing to only one team (Colerain, twice). No other class in Middletown history has ever had a run like that.
“People should remember our class,” Davis said. “I know my high school career is coming to an end, but we’re hoping to have our legacy known forever and ever. My goal is to just live it.”
Going out on top
Middletown has never gotten past the second round of the playoffs. The Middies are seeded No. 1 in the region right now. Perhaps this is the year for a lengthy run.
Davis feels it. He’s not going to make a bold prediction. He did that earlier this year when Middletown played Colerain. It backfired on him, but he doesn’t regret it.
He said what he felt and the Middies lost. So be it. He’s sure it’s better to go all in and deal with disappointment than say things he doesn’t mean.
Davis doesn’t know where he’ll end up next year. Surely he can play football somewhere, but his size will keep the big-timers away.
Everhart is certain that his future coaches, whoever they may be, will love Davis, a kid who will play himself to complete exhaustion because that’s just the way he is made. He will always be loyal to his school. His collar may be blue, but his heart is purple.
“There’s nothing else but being a Middie,” Davis said. “If you’re a Middie, you’re something special, and I love it. I love being called a Middie when I’m walking out in the streets. You can’t beat that.”
Everhart will miss this senior class when it’s gone. He’ll miss them all. But he’ll especially miss Davis because he’s genuine.
“I like kids who don’t live in hype and don’t live in the look-at-me-now world,” Everhart said. “They’re worried about being great people, and that’s what we’re supposed to be teaching.
“We’ve taken high school sports and bastardized it and made it into basically a marketplace for selling kids,” he continued. “And it’s just terrible. So when you’ve got a kid like Zach Davis, that thrills the hell out of me. They’re few and far between anymore.”
Contact this reporter at (513) 820-2194 or rcassano@coxohio.com.