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Connor Dixson scored both touchdowns as the Ellis football team blanked visiting South Davie 14-0 on Sept. 15.

The Jaguars’ third win in as many games could have been greater, but they had two scores called back and Dixson fumbled at the South 1 after gaining 35 yards on the play.

Ellis was without its quarterback, Ethan Driver, for the second time. Just like against Forbush, Elijah Chaffin ran the show on offense.

“Braxton Bowling played really good (at running back and  outside linebacker),” Ellis assistant coach Kendall Chaffin said. Braxton is the brother of Caleb Bowling, a freshman football player at Drake.

Ellis coaches gave credit to the 0-2 Tigers for hanging around.

“South is huge,” Chaffin said. “If you put South, North and Ellis together, they are going to be something else.”

“South did what they needed to. They controlled the ball,” Ellis assistant coach Mike Dinkins said. “They had two long drives in the second half – one that stalled inside the 20 and one at the 28. And I was impressed with South’s defense.”

Jayce Bentley had an interception for South. On the Dixson fumble, Ryan Williams punched out the ball and Bentley recovered.

“AJ Imes played good on the defensive line,” South assistant coach Kerwyn Wilson said. “Ryan had standout plays. Laz Smith did well. (Outside linebacker) Jamarius Pelote made plays for us.”

It was Ellis’ second win in a row in the series, including an 8-6 decision last spring.

ND 31, Forbush 8

Brady Marshall, Gavin Reese and Blake French were a part of extraordinary plays as North Davie stomped visiting Forbush 31-8 on Sept. 15.

Justin Sink’s 9-yard touchdown run opened the scoring. Then came one of several big plays, a 90-yard TD pass from Marshall to Reese, who ran a wheel route and gave North a 12-0 lead. After the Falcons pulled within 12-8, Reese took the kickoff 80 yards for an 18-8 lead.

“Gavin didn’t play last year,” coach Timmy Allen said. “He’s a basketball player; I think that’s his first love. I begged him last year to play. I stayed on him and he said: ‘I’m gonna come out.’ He’s a good kid. He’s got a little swagger. He has good hands and is a natural route-runner. He catches everything. Some things he does very similar to Cooper Wall (a record-setting receiver at Davie from 2014-17), but he’s not as tall as Cooper.”

It was 18-8 at halftime and stayed that way through the third quarter. But the Wildcats pulled away in the fourth. After Marshall had a 68-yard scoring run negated by a flag, he connected with Reese for a 48-yard TD. Then French capped the scoring with an 85-yard pick-6.

“Brady did a good job leading our offense and Gavin probably had 250 all-purpose yards,” Allen said after North squared its record at 1-1. “I don’t know if I’ve ever had a kid with that many all-purpose yards. He went off.”

On the defensive side, Allen pointed to cornerback Hayden Potts, outside linebackers Marshall and Reese, lineman Gio Alcacio and DB Bubby Byington.

“The defense bowed up and played good,” he said. “Hayden makes a lot of open-field tackles. He’s always throwing himself out there and making plays. Gio got a stop that really helped us. Bubby broke up passes when they were trying to score late in the game.”

Notes: Max Rapaport made an extra-point kick. … North has a three-game winning streak against Forbush, including a 50-0 wipeout last spring. … The offensive line of Lane Griffin, Sean Sink, Alcacio, Jakob Cable and Jathan Redmon helped North continuously move the sticks. “The whole OL played really well,” Allen said. “We were down a few starters and reserves – three or four players – so we were stretched thin. The OL opened up a lot of running lanes.”