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By Brian Pitts

Enterprise Record

Draeton Nance accounted for three touchdowns and South Davie’s football team cruised past visiting Erwin in the debut of the Tri-County Conference on Aug. 15.

The bad news: South’s electrifying receiver, Noah Dulin, was lost for the season with a second-half injury. Dulin, a basketball star as well, will recover in plenty of time for hoops, but his broken collarbone early in the second half put a damper on South’s victory.

Dulin had a substantial catch-and-run on a bubble screen to open the scoring. Nance and Dulin, who are brothers, hooked up for another touchdown on a fourth-down pass in the second quarter. Dulin also played cornerback and some running back.

“Losing Noah takes away a lot of what we do,” coach Germain Mayfield said. “He (had a catch for) 50 or 60 yards and got ran down. The guy rolled over on him wrong and broke his clavicle.”

After South took a 14-0 lead to halftime, Dreighton Lunnerman and Nance provided second-half TDs on a kickoff return and running play, respectively.

With Dulin on the shelf, Mayfield will turn to Lunnerman, a seventh grader who plays receiver and defensive back. While he lacks experience, he’s unquestionably gifted.

“We still have opportunities because Lunnerman is probably our best player,” Mayfield said. “He’s still learning the game, but he’s probably got the most potential on the field. He’s got that football body. He’s tall and long. He’s got good size. It’s just about learning the game and knowing what to do. I was hoping to bring him along slow, but he’s going to have to take over the load now.”

Nance, who threw two TDs and ran for one, is going to be something to watch on both sides of the ball. When he’s not running the show on offense, he’s headhunting at linebacker.

“He hits people on defense,” Mayfield said.

South has a four-game winning streak dating to last year’s 4-3 season. “I think we’re going to be OK,” he said. “We’ve got the potential to be pretty good.”

This was South’s first matchup with Erwin since 2005, when South and North Davie were part of the Piedmont Conference.