For the first time in 12 years, the Davis and Woodland High School varsity basketball teams met on the Woodland High School gym hardwood, rekindling a Yolo County rivalry as old as time.

The teams’ lack of familiarity hurt the Wolves (2-2) more than the Blue Devils (1-4), who hopped back on the bus with a 78-46 win Friday night.

“It was great to bring the rivalry back,” Wolves head coach Jay Munoz said. “You can tell it’s not what it once was, but these kids are so far gone from the original rivalry. It felt like you could really tell it was the first matchup in a while. We, as coaches, tried to get them hyped to appreciate the rivalry. It will get there. I want this game scheduled ever year. It’s great for the community, and playing some good competition is great for us.

“Tonight, I thought we battled and hung in there. They are a great team and a great program. Having one school in town is such a luxury. The depth really separated the two teams, but we played really hard. I know we will bring that every night, but that doesn’t necessarily win games. We have to match the competitiveness with our skills and scoring to win some games.”

The Wolves came into Friday night’s showdown on a bit of a roll, winning back-to-back games to start the season over Mesa Verde on Nov. 22 by the score of 53-24 and then taking down Foresthill four days later by the score of 57-49. This past Tuesday, the Wolves suffered their first loss of the season to Del Campo 48-28.

“For me, I think the season has been going pretty well,” Munoz said. “Those were two wins we should have gotten, and we took care of business. We knew these games against Davis and Del Campo would be hard. We won the games we were supposed to win and lost the games we were supposed to lose.”

The Blue Devils came into the game following a brief ride up Highway 113 in a bit of a rut, losing their first four games of the season to Christain Brothers, Rio Americano, Bishop O’Dowd and Laguna Creek. Despite the Devil’s record, Munoz did not underestimate Davis’ talent, skill, and size.

“When you see the competition level they played, they were in a lot of those games,” Munoz said. “I knew the record didn’t reflect what kind of team they were going to be. They are coached really well and have 10-12 guys that can play at any moment. That was ultimately the difference.”

The Blue Devils raced out to a 47-19 lead at halftime and never really looked back.

With the deficit nearly at 30, the Wolves went back to basics to start the third quarter and hoped to chip away at some of that Davis lead.

Initially, things looked good as Wolves senior wing Joseph Quezada drained a shot from deep to cut the lead to 47-21. Following two free throws from Wolves big man Lincoln Twilley, junior Miles Eoff got in on the action with a basket to make it 51-26.

Then, sophomore guard Ruger Hayes drained his own shot from deep to make it 56-29. While the Wolves offense kept up a good pace to start the third quarter, the deficit remained around 25-20 points due to the Blue Devils going on to match every basket back at the other end.

A few possessions later, Twilley showed off some nice footwork with a spin move close to the basket, dinking in a shot to make it 58-31. Another basket from Hayes made it 58-33. Another basket from Twilley and Hayes made it 62-37 going into the final quarter.

To start the fourth, Davis mounted a quick 4-0 run to fully pull away from the Wolves and coast to the eventual 32-point win.

The Wolves will have little time to get over the loss as their schedule will be packed next week. They will take on Mira Loma on Tuesday, Dec. 10, before starting up the inaugural Yolo Scramble at Pioneer High School.

They will begin the scramble by playing city rivals Woodland Christian on Wednesday, Dec. 11. They will keep it local and play Winters on Thursday, Dec. 12, before taking on their other crosstown foes in Pioneer High School on Friday, Dec. 13.

“I just want to see us compete,” Munoz said. “The four games in four days won’t be easy, but I think it will allow us to dig into the bench and give guys opportunities they may not have had. Every game matters, but the games vs. Woodland Christian and Pioneer are curved, so if we can get those, we can feel good about ourselves.”