Before Friday night’s thrilling win over Greenville-Weston, Warren Central junior wide receiver Kourey Davis wasn’t well known except for opposing coaches poring over film.

He was like a 6-foot-5 stealth jet, invisible on a radar screen and his true capabilities known by only a chosen few.

But now, he’s a known quantity with an impressive four-touchdown performance. He caught five passes for 216 yards and helped lift WC (1-5, 1-1 Region 2-6A) right back into the hunt for a postseason berth.

It was a happy confluence of Greenville-Weston’s stubborn insistence in sticking with their cover zero scheme and a great night by quarterback Chase Ladd that helped Davis have a breakout game.

Marooned alone with Davis on the edges, Greenville-Weston’s cornerbacks had no chance. Cover zero is a classic risk-reward style of defense that brings a lot of pressure on the quarterback while gambling that he will be unable to complete any deep balls. There are no safeties to drop back into deep coverage.

WC’s offensive line kept the heat off Ladd and he was sacked only once, giving him the chance to hit 9 of 17 passes for a career-high 281 yards and a school-record five touchdowns. Davis’ 216 receiving yards and four touchdowns were also school records.

“We were trying to be in attack mode all game,” WC coach Josh Morgan said. “We all felt that we if (pass) protected, they could not cover Kourey. The o-line blocked very well in pass protect. Chase deserves a lot of credit. Kourey is becoming a great leader, he was one of our captains tonight, and hopefully, there’s more of that where that came from.”

The call of the deep ball on the first play from scrimmage was no surprise to the WC offense,

WC offensive coordinator Rob Morgan wanted to test whether Greenville-Weston could handle Davis in man coverage. The first play, a 73-yard strike from Ladd that hit Davis in stride, showed it couldn’t.

“Chase is a great quarterback,” Davis said. “He has the receivers. All he has to do is take his time. That (the opening play call) set the tempo. We called that in practice.”

While a few times Greenville-Weston backed a safety up into a cover one look, they went back to their cover zero look and Morgan knew there would be plays to be had deep.

“I was afraid with Kourey, surely, they’ll have somebody deep,” Rob Morgan said. “But I said, let’s go ahead and call it. Here he is, wide open.”

Morgan also used other playcalls to take advantage of the aggressive Hornet defense. Ladd hit Given Breckenridge on a nicely-timed middle screen and Breckenridge got into the open field for a 28-yard TD.

After the WC defense forced a three-and-out, Rob Morgan went back to the deep ball. Ladd hit Davis, still in single coverage, and the speedster didn’t break stride in a 64-yard footrace he easily won.

“I thought surely, we hit them on the deep ball, they will double him,” Morgan said. “But it’s a credit to them that they feel that they have the athletes and they stuck with their scheme (cover zero). If they’re going to continue to do that, we need to go deep. I haven’t seen anyone that can catch him in the open field.”

Even after Greenville closed the deficit and later turned the game into an up-and-down affair, the game plan for the Vikings was the same — attack.

WC took back the lead on another long hookup. The Vikings went to a trips set and the Hornets lost track of Davis in the slot. He raced upfield and Ladd hit him with another laser in stride for a 70-yard score and a 28-26 lead.

Down 34-28 after Andrew King scooped up an errant Hornet snap with just over two minutes left, the WC offense went to work. After Patrick Varnado’s 20-yard catch set up the Vikings in the red zone at the 10, the Vikings called timeout.

In the huddle, Davis told the coaching staff that he wanted the ball. They didn’t disappoint, calling a fade route for him in the back of the end zone.

Ladd threw a perfect strike, throwing the ball where only Davis could sky and get it. He pulled it down for the tying touchdown and Devon Bell added the winning extra point.