South Davie’s football team faced its first deficit of the season  against visiting Forbush on Oct. 12. But in the end, it was the Tigers in another runaway.

They bullied the Falcons in the second half and won 38-16. South stayed perfect at 6-0 while playing its closest game since a 30-13 decision over Lexington on Sept. 14.

It was a struggle in the first half. South’s talented quarterback, MJ Holleman, threw an interception at the Forbush 23. South caught a break when a snap sailed over the head of Forbush’s punter, giving the Tigers the ball at the Falcon 5. On first down, Holleman ran it in and Guillermo “Willie” Garcia kicked it through to give South an 8-0 lead.

Forbush answered with 16 straight points, the first touchdown coming when its quarterback got around the left end for 23 yards. A successful kick tied the game at 8.

Ben Crenshaw had a 25-yard catch-and-run, and when a late-hit penalty was tacked on, South was in business at the Forbush 22. But South fumbled it away on the next play.

A Forbush run between the tackles resulted in a 46-yard touchdown, and the underdog had a 16-8 lead with 2:03 remaining in the second quarter.

Holleman ran 20 yards to the Forbush 45, but the Falcons came up with another interception with 57 seconds on the clock. But the tide began to turn toward South when Chase Robertson tipped a long pass that Jack Reynolds intercepted and returned to the Forbush 48 with 32 seconds left.

After Holleman spiked the ball to stop the clock at 29 seconds, South – incredibly – ripped off 48 yards in a span of 26 seconds. Gage Recktenwald made a 6-yard catch and got out of bounds. After an incompletion, it was fourth-and-6. Holleman found Recktenwald for 27 yards, and he got out of bounds at the Forbush 15. On the next play, Holleman found Reynolds on a slant route, and after Garcia converted the kick, South had tied the game with only three seconds left in the half.

“The last drive of the first half is when we started looking like ourselves,” offensive coordinator Germain Mayfield said. “We got back to normal.”

South moved the ball almost at will in the second half. Holleman scored on an 18-yard run. Reynolds returned a punt 25 yards to the Forbush 13, and Holleman completed a 15-yard TD to Reynolds. A 44-yard TD pass to Reynolds was negated by a penalty, but it didn’t matter because moments later Devonte Lyerly rumbled 53 yards to the end zone. That made it 38-16 with 2:07 to go.

Getting blocks from left tackle Caleb Steele, left guard Zy’Mier Lewis, center Avery Taylor, right guard Davy Marion and right tackle Ivan Poag, Holleman went 8 of 15 for 102 passing yards and added two rushing TDs while running six times for 55 yards. Lyerly had 80 rushing yards on eight carries. Four receivers caught passes, including Recktenwald (three catches for 55 yards), Reynolds (2-30), Crenshaw (2-11) and JT Bumgarner (1-6).

Notes: Forbush slipped to 4-3, the other losses coming from Pilot Mountain and Ellis (12-6). … South’s defense came in only allowing 8.8 points, but it regrouped in time to beat Forbush for the fifth time in five years. … Ellis, also unbeaten, had a bye last week. Ellis and South will have a showdown at South on Oct. 19. … North Davie (0-5) lost 30-12 at home to Starmount. It was 24-0 at halftime.