South Forsyth already had some of the fastest overall team speed in the county last season.
This year, the War Eagles have added a dash more speed.
Rising junior Dash Moore caught a 39-yard touchdown pass Friday during the War Eagles' annual Blue/White scrimmage, highlighting a contest that featured South's combination of speed and physicality.
"I thought our quarterbacks played well and I thought up front we played well. Both sides of the ball made some really good plays," South coach Troy Morris said. "We have a kid that came to us, Dash Moore. He moved in and he looked good today."
Moore's touchdown catch came on a deep pass from fellow rising junior Cade Aycock, who uncorked a beautiful ball that dropped over the outstretched arm of Brady Lynn and met Moore in stride right at the goal line for the score.
Meanwhile, starting quarterback Ty Watkins engineered the Blue squad to scoring drives on back-to-back series. Watkins completed each of his first three pass attempts, with the final one finding Jacob Smith all alone in the end zone for the first score of the game.
Cole Williams punched in a 1-yard TD run on the following series to give the Blue team a quick 14-0 advantage.
Both scoring drives started with a turnover, as James Margiotta recovered a fumble and Conner Futch added an opportunistic interception, corralling a ball that bounced off Maverick Schippman twice.
Watkins enjoyed a breakout season last year, passing for 1,951 yards and 18 touchdowns with just two interceptions.
"The big thing for him is, I want him to be more vocal," Morris said. "I want him to control the offense and coach the guys, and really be an on-the-field coach. He's done a great job with that. He's the general. He runs the show out there. He knows the offense as well as I do, so he's talking to young guys, receivers — he's talking to everybody out there and coaching them up."
Aycock moved the ball effectively, too, finding Moore on a 37-yard pass to set up the touchdown, then hitting Hayden Mock for a 32-yard gain off an impressive catch by Mock.
"He's come a long way," Morris said of Aycock. "In the weight room, he's done a good job and he's gotten stronger. He just throws a really nice, catchable ball."
Mock's catch set up a 32-yard field goal by Madox Pearson.
South's kickers showed off their skill during the scrimmage. Pearson, Tyler Simpson, Jack McQuaid, Davis Little, Lander Causey and Quinn Vaughan participated in a halftime kicking competition that saw Simpson drill a 52-yard field goal.
Simpson also launched the game's opening kickoff 9 yards deep into the back of the end zone.
"He hit the very back of the end zone, so you can tell he's definitely got more strength since last season in his leg," Morris said.
On defense, South displayed its tenacity often. Futch laid a physical hit on ball-carrier at the line of scrimmage in the second quarter, and Schippman caught a screen pass in the third quarter and quickly got downhill, barreling over an opposing defensive back in open space.
Zach Clark had two sacks in the contest, while Chris Brown, Cooper Lowe and Bay Robinson each added one. Clark's first sack came after Cole Yeager made a tackle in the backfield to set up fourth-and-2 situation.
South will open the 2022 season with a scrimmage at Shiloh.