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By Brian Pitts

Enterprise Record

The football teams from Ellis, North Davie and South Davie all had sweat-free wins last week, which was nothing new for the Jaguars, who have buried opponents by an aggregate 182-0.

At home on Sept. 17, they utterly shut down a Mooresville team that came in with zero losses.

Cam James and Bowman Blakley ran for three and two touchdowns, respectively, as Ellis (5-0) raced past the Red Imps 38-0.

“Cam and Bowman both have size and they run hard,” assistant coach Mike Morgan said. “Up to this point, nobody has stopped it.”

Mooresville loaded the box in an effort to contain the James/Blakley tandem, but they still did whatever they wanted while churning behind Graham Weaver, Brody Newman, Joseph Burchette, Cody Zwanzig and Vincent Clements.

“They blitzed continually and we were still able to run the ball,” Morgan said. “They were a lot bigger than us up front, but our line came off the ball and popped them pretty good right from the beginning. Our backs have been tough to stop, but they still need holes to run through.”

The ferocious defense was equally dominant, with Mooresville failing to gain a single first down in the first half.

“The defense stepped up again,” Morgan said. “It was pretty clear they were frustrated. I don’t think Mooresville has been in that situation too many times in recent years.”

Graham Wood and Ben Bost had interceptions.

“(Bost’s INT) was an absolute backbreaker for them,” he said. “It was 20-0 and he returned it to the 4-yard line. A block-in-the-back (penalty) took it back to the 19, but we were able to punch it in anyway. That made it 28-0 before halftime.”

The Jaguars, whose closest margin all season has been 28 points, are three wins from their third perfect record in four years.

“Our kids have worked hard and the coaches feel like we’ve improved consistently,” he said. “That better remain the case because the toughest game we’ll play is (Sept. 24 against South Davie).”

South 42, Cone 0

South Davie scored on five of 16 offensive plays – it had another TD on a kickoff return – and bullied visiting Bonnie Cone on Sept. 17.

Elijah Tatum took a kickoff 70 yards to the end zone. Wyatt Tucker, Jared Vaughters and Colsen Dulin ran for TDs, and William Sandoval tossed a pair of TDs – for 31 and 35 yards – to Dreighton Lunnerman.

“We had it blocked up, we had a pretty good wall set up,” coach Germain Mayfield said of Tatum’s return. “He made one move at the end, but that was pretty much it.”

Defensively, Malachi Miller and Dulin recorded safeties as the Tigers (4-1) posted their largest win since the 2022 season. They entered the Ellis game with a three-game winning streak and a 7-1 run dating to 2023.

North 42, Burke 6

After suffering three consecutive losses, North Davie found a ray of sunshine at Selma Burke.

The catalyst was QB Levi Morales, who ran for four TDs and threw another to Easton Stanley. Nathan Smith added a scoring run.

“(Morales is) a great athlete,” coach Beau Byerly said. “He knows the game well. He knows how to read a defense. He’s very agile. He had a lot of shifty moves on his runs. I don’t know if he was tackled all game. He (also) plays a mean safety position.”

Defensively, Byerly said the leaders were linebacker Smith and spurs Sawyer Hall and Stanley, along with cornerbacks Jeremiah Hernandez and Christopher Gonzalez.

“We had outstanding corner play from Jeremiah and Christopher,” he said. “I think we gave up one positive pass. They locked them down. I put them in a zero look, pressing up on them, and they couldn’t handle (Hernandez and Gonzalez). They got them off their routes pretty much all game.”

From the coach’s view, safety Wade Ridenhour should have had a pick-six for 60 yards. A questionable pass interference penalty erased the play.

“It was bang-bang,” he said. “They collided at the same time. Our corner popped the dude right as he caught it, the ball flew up and Wade caught it and took it to the house.”

The win, unfortunately, was costly as two Wildcats left with broken bones – outside linebacker Jodee Rosales and receiver Hudson Pfaff.

“We’re down to 16,” Byerly said. “It’s kind of hard to practice with 16.”

Notes: Peyton Jordan kicked three extra points to give North (2-3) six points on special teams. “I felt courageous, so I put him out there to kick a 35-yard field goal,” Byerly said. “He was short about five yards, but it was on line and he kicked it well.” … After dominating opponents in 2023, the Bears have faded to irrelevance. Last year they beat North 50-20, South 28-16 and Ellis 20-6. This year they lost 40-0 to Ellis and 40-6 to South, so they’ve been outscored by Davie County 122-12.