By Bob Sutton

Special to The Alamance News

Three players from Southeast Alamance’s championship football team confirmed their college choices in what was another first-time event at the 2-year-old school: a full-blown signing ceremony.

Quarterback Landon Dodson and kicker Cruz Nelms will go to Division II Barton, and tight end Ryan Dodson is heading to Division II Ferrum.

The trio of players helped set the foundation for coach Tony Aguilar’s program. Appreciation flowed in all directions during a sometimes-emotional session last week in the school’s auditorium.

“They set a legacy for others to follow,” Aguilar said.

The seniors experienced various emotions as they stepped into a new school. They were all former Southern Alamance athletes, with Ryan Dodson and Nelms at Southeast when the school opened and Landon Dodson arriving last spring.

They all said they had doubts about how it would work out.

Ryan Dodson said he hedged at the thought of leaving Southern at the time of redistricting.

“After I left Southern, I didn’t think I had a chance to play in college,” he said.

He became Southeast’s first quarterback, then switched to multiple roles on offense and defense last season.

Ryan Dodson joins a Ferrum program moving up from Division III.

He and Nelms were two-year captains with the Stallions.

Nelms, a kicker and punter, went to a kicking camp last summer at Barton and the recruiting process continued into the fall.

He was a punter as a sophomore at Southern, giving a nod to the early confidence from former Patriots coach Fritz Hessenthaler. He thanked local kicking guru Mike Nall, who also works with Elon University’s specialists and attended the signing event, for pushing him to be better.

Nelms said he wasn’t too keen on moving to the new school, but his mother, Wendy Nelms, had worked as an Eastern Alamance assistant principal when Aguilar was on the faculty and coaching staff there. She endorsed the coach.

Later, Aguilar proclaimed that Nelms would kick the first field goal in the school’s history. Nelms proved him right, kicking three of them.

“For a kicker to be a captain of your football team, especially as a junior, that says a lot,” Aguilar said.

The duo selecting Barton will join the football program as preferred walk-ons. Landon Dodson said Barton’s strong Fellowship of Christian Athletes chapter was the tipping point in his decision.

His status as a college prospect might have taken the biggest rise. He was Southern’s starting quarterback on the 2023 team that won the Central 3-A Conference and posted a 12-2 record while rarely throwing the ball.

So Landon Dodson didn’t envision much of a future in football.

“When I was at Southern, I didn’t think I would have any (college offers),” he said. “I really didn’t have much film (for recruiters). I was thinking about quitting because I didn’t have that love for the game.”

He became recharged at Southeast and considerably busier. He threw for 20 touchdowns.

“It made me fall in love with the game all over again,” Landon Dodson said.

Yet there were uneasy times during the transition.

“You see what real life is going to be about,” he said. “It has been a real character-building journey. (Southeast) really taught me how to handle hard better.”

Principal Eric Yarbrough said the trio represented a group that “really helped build a culture.”

The Stallions, the Mid-Carolina Conference champions, had an undefeated regular season in 2024.

Parents of the three athletes heaped praise on Southeast’s coaches and administration for making the new school the right spot for their sons. The players embraced their paths.

“Thank you Southeast Alamance for everything you do for me,” Ryan Dodson said.