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The South Stanly football team had not opened a full season with a win since 2012 when head coach Tasker Fleming and the Bulls beat West Stanly 25-13. South opened the spring 2020-21 season with a win versus South Davidson, but for the most part, the Bulls had been opening the season against the Colts.

In a back and forth game Friday night, South got two defensive stands in the final quarter to take a 16-10 win over West, ending a 10-game losing streak the Bulls had to the Colts entering this season.

The game was originally scheduled to be at West Stanly, but because of problems with the Colts’ new scoreboard, the game was moved to South’s K.L. Young Stadium in Norwood.

For West (0-1), it was the first loss to open a season since losing to Northwest Cabarrus in 2018.

South (1-0) took the early lead late in the first quarter on a 26-yard touchdown pass from QB Kaleb Richardson to Jayden Woods.

West answered early in the second when QB Hudson Snider found Phoenix Hendy open in the end zone for a touchdown. The extra point gave West a one-point lead, 7-6, which is where the score stayed at halftime.

The Bulls drove down to the West nine early in the third quarter but could not score. However, the South defense gave its team the lead back two plays later, sacking Snider in the end zone for a safety at the 7:48 mark.

West drove to inside the South 1-yard line but had to settle for a 23-yard field goal from Reece Huneycutt, which put the Colts ahead 10-8.

On the ensuing drive, a long return gave the Bulls a short field to work with. A few plays later, Richardson dropped back and stepped up in the pocket to avoid the Colts’ pass rush.

“I saw the D-line crashing on me, and I stepped up in the pocket, made a move and trusted my wide receiver,” Richardson said.

Looking downfield, he found Dockery one-on-one on the South sideline and placed the pass just over the defender’s reach into Dockery’s waiting arms.

“I saw the ball coming my way, and I saw a defender, and I knew I had to catch it,” Dockery said. “And when I went up and caught it, I fumbled it a little bit, but I caught.”

When he saw open land, he added, he just took off for the end zone.

Dockery’s catch, along with a two-point conversion pass from Richardson to Ethan Gaddy, put South up 16-10 with 8:50 left in the game.

West drove deep into South territory on the next drive, but a fourth-down pass attempt over the middle was just short of the receiver’s grasp.

The Colts had one last chance with just over a minute left in the game and no timeouts with the ball around the West 35-yard line.

But on the first play from scrimmage, South defensive Josiah Holt stepped in and picked off a pass over the middle to seal the win for the Bulls.

“What was really going through my mind was I had dropped a pass before, and I was already mad,” Holt said. “I was like, ‘I’ve got to make it up to the team.’ ”

South head coach Terry Shankle said the win felt great.

“It feels like all the hard work we put in, the coaches and players put in, is paying off. We’re not taking it for granted.”

Shankle credited the specials teams for setting up the final touchdown, as well as the defensive coaches for all their work.

“We’ve got guts; we’re tough. We don’t give up.”

This week, South goes on the road to face South Rowan (1-0), who won Friday night at Union Academy 21-17.

West will stay on the road Friday when the Colts go to Carson (0-1). The Cougars lost at home to Mount Pleasant on Friday 31-14.