South Davie’s football team downed host North Davie by 29 on Nov. 1, but it was no gimme.

The underdog Wildcats put up a fight in the first half, trailing 19-16. But at the end of the day, the Tigers were just better, pulling away 45-16 in the season finale for both teams.

North finished 1-7 for the second year in a row. South bounced back from a 30-8 loss to Ellis to finish 7-1.

South scored the first two touchdowns to grab a 12-0 lead. North got back in the game with two exhilarating TDs, the first on a 65-yard run by Jadon Davis.

“He broke a tackle, spun out of a tackle and then found the edge,” North coach Timmy Allen said. “Jadon surprised me. He showed off a little speed. He ran the ball hard all game.”

After South scored to go up 19-8, the ensuing kickoff went to Adam Moreno, who returned it 70 yards to the end zone.

“We’ve been saying all year he’s bound to break one,” Allen said. “From the far side of the field, he started to the right toward our sideline, a lane opened up and he shot through there. He’s our fastest player and no one was going to catch him once he got through the front line.”

Following Davis’ second successful two-point kick, North was within 19-16 at halftime.

“I’d like to give Sam Collins credit. He had good snaps,” Allen said. “Cooper White had good holds. Everything was perfect. That’s a testament to Jadon. He works on his kicking. I think he wants to be a kicker. He’s been booming them lately.”

Ultimately, though, the Tigers were too much for North. They came out of the locker room razor sharp and scored 26 unanswered points in the final 16 minutes.

“They’ve got good athletes and we didn’t quite have enough to match up with them,” Allen said. “They started gashing us with short passes.”

Indeed, South quarterback Trot Byerly was terrific, completing 11 of 17 passes for 190 yards, including two TDs to Isaiah Lytton. Byerly wasn’t far from his season high (206 yards at Forbush). He connected four times for 68 yards with JT Bumgarner. Lytton had three catches for 68 yards. Peyton Helton had two for 45. Seth Johnson and CJ Dickerson had one reception each.

“(Byerly) had a really good game,” Allen said. “He’s confident. He knows what he’s doing. He’s good at reading the defense. He doesn’t put the ball in bad places. If he needs to, he’ll tuck it and run. He extended some drives by tucking it.”

Devonte Lyerly (eight carries for 103 yards and two TDs) and Bryan Argueta (four carries for 51) were too much for North as well. Lytton added 29 yards on three carries. Dickerson and Byerly had rushing TDs.

It was the fourth 100-yard rushing game for Lyerly, who had 112 yards against Starmount, 123 against North Iredell and 145 against Forbush.

The Wildcats, who went about 10 points over their scoring average in the first half, just missed a big play when the game was still competitive in the third quarter.

“We missed a beautifully thrown pass by Blake Jenkins to Will Summers,” Allen said. “Will just missed it; it went off the tip of his fingers. He ran a good route. No. 1 (Lytton) is fast as lightning, but Will definitely got the best of him on the route and was wide open. Will probably would have gotten caught, but it would have been a big gain.”

Notes: The Tigers rang up the most points in 31 games, dating to a 49-27 win at Forbush in 2013. … It’s their third straight year with one or no losses. … For the sixth straight year, South finished with two or fewer defeats.