By Bob Sutton
Special to The Alamance News
There’s not much history with the brief existence of Southeast Alamance’s football program, which is in its second year.
Yet there are notable changes with the Stallions, perhaps none more obvious than what junior linebacker Aiden Pak has noticed.
“Last year, we were always the underdog,” Pak said.
Not anymore.
Southeast holds a 6-0 record, including 4-0 in the Mid-Carolina Conference.
Across the state, the Stallions are one of about 30 undefeated teams in the North Carolina High School Athletic Association.
The first season for Southeast included special moments and certain breakthroughs. This is shaping up even better.
“It has been cool to see the progress, the development from Year 1 to Year 2,” coach Tony Aguilar said.
In the school’s first season, there were just a couple of seniors, but a notable dose of talent and leadership. That has been supplemented with an infusion of maturing players and growing confidence.
The desire to excel can’t be understated.
“I think we all just want to win,” said senior defensive lineman Khaleb Satterfield, who played on Southeast Guilford’s junior varsity in 2022 and didn’t arrive in time to suit up for the Stallions last fall. “The energy everybody brings and everyone is together.”
Connecting the pieces
While depth was a concern last year, holes have been plugged and roles further defined for 2024.
The headliners were Bubba Sims and Ryan Dodson, and now there’s plenty of company for that duo.
Sims, a junior, leads the Stallions in tackles from his linebacker or safety spots and has a team-high five interceptions. As a receiver, he’s tops on the team in catches.
Former Southern Alamance quarterback Landon Dodson is taking snaps for the Stallions. That allowed Ryan Dodson (no relation) to move to a multi-purpose role on offense and regular duty as a defensive end as a senior.
That shift has created compounding benefits.
“That kind of changed our whole mindset and physicality,” Aguilar said. “You could tell in the spring our D-line was going to be really good. That makes your O-line better because they don’t want to get whooped every day. They kind of pushed each other.”
Ryan Dodson is joined on the front by Satterfield, Drew Easter, Gavin Greeson and Cardell West.
Satterfield, who played basketball for the Stallions last season, adds size along the front. That combined with the natural growth of underclassmen gives Southeast a more imposing lineup.
And the depth keeps blossoming. DJ Callis moved up from junior varsity and has formed a sophomore running back tandem with Daniel Bunker.
“The competition at each position has been the key for us,” Aguilar said. “If one guy screws up, he knows there’s someone else ready.”
Logan Luang-Sy, a receiver and cornerback, has recovered from last year’s anterior cruciate ligament injury and is contributing again.
Perfect moment
The Stallions haven’t been without a scare.
They needed clutch late-game plays against Eastern Alamance to reach this juncture undefeated. In the second game of the season, the defining sequence came with Josh Gant’s 51-yard punt return for a go-ahead touchdown with less than two minutes remaining in a 21-19 road victory
“I saw green grass in front of me and one guy to beat,” he recalled last week. “It was a lot of good blocks. I knew what I had to do and I did it.”
That became one of those moments when Gant, a junior transfer from Graham, realized special things were happening with the Stallions. The cornerback said he has embraced the opportunities on a winning team.
“The atmosphere, players encouraging each other,” Gant said. “My teammates, they definitely want to win.”
Look at all this
The Stallions can’t claim to be off the radar any longer. What they accomplished last November and for the first portion of this season has raised the program’s profile in a hurry.
A year ago, Southeast finished the regular season with six victories before winning twice in state-playoff road games.
“And that winning carried over to this year,” Pak said.
At this time in 2023, the Stallions weren’t wondering how high they might be seeded for Class 2-A state playoffs.
Instead, Aguilar said it was more like: “Let’s try to make a run and get into the playoffs.”
Pak said he could tell by the summer that the Stallions should be a different type of team. Growing pains and uncertainty from a year earlier had dissipated.
So while limited roster numbers and shortage of experience might have been viewed as drawbacks last season, perks from that have surfaced.
“Everyone has improved because we only lost a couple of people,” Pak said.
The Stallions also haven’t lost a game.
“I feel like we expect to win every game,” Satterfield said. “That’s what I like about this team.”
There are three more games before a potential Mid-Carolina Conference showdown at Cummings to end the regular season.
“We want to win 10 games in a row,” Pak said.
Or, perhaps, even more.
