SPENCER— North Rowan’s winter and spring track programs already stand as among the best in the state.

Now a fall program is under development, deceptively disguised as a football team.

“I think we have some good backs with great speed and we’re going to give them a chance to show that to some people,”Cavalier head coach Roger Secreast said. “It’s a track meet with those guys.”

The 532 total yards North gained in Friday night’s 53-19 win over East Rowan laid claim to Secreast’s boast. The passing yards, as always, were there: QB Graham Hosch hit a half-dozen speedy targets for 266 yards.

But the biggest surprise turned out to be the running game, which featured three tailbacks with little experience and even less in common. The Cavaliers don’t have a starter in the trio of Malachi Brown, Thomas Mashore Jr. and Aundray Russell. What the Cavs own instead is quite a track team in their backfield.

“Thomas Mashore is more of a finesse runner, Malachi is the strongest of the three and probably the hardest to bring down,”said Secreast, who also got 266 yards out of the running game Friday. “Aundray Russell is more explosive through the line of scrimmage. So they each have a trait that makes them unique.

“But the one thing they have in common is that they all can run.”

For two-thirds of the athletic year, that’s their primary job. Brown, a 5-9, 165-pound senior; Mashore, a 6-foot-2, 175-pound junior; and Russell, a 5-9, 165-pound junior, make up three-fourths of North’s formidable 4x200 relay team.

All three played football last season but saw limited time. Mashore patrolled the secondary. Russell got 21 carries in two games late in the year and Brown finished with seven carries.

They kept running through the track seasons and, when expected starting tailback Jamel Alexander transferred to Salisbury, suddenly had a chance in pads. Secreast thanked track coach Robert Steele for grooming a great crop of runners for the football team. Steele thanked Secreast for giving them a chance to shine at another sport.

“I have no apprehension about them running and playing. The two sports sort of compliment each other,”Steele said. “You never know what someone might excel in. Football might end up being the thing that allows a couple of them to educate themselves.”

Steele said he enjoyed watching his trio run Friday night. He didn’t have any advice for them, in a strict football sense, but did offer a few words of wisdom in the hopes of keeping them healthy enough to run the rest of the year.

“I told them to get their shoulders down. Some of them looked a little bit tall last week,”Steele said with a laugh, describing another obvious difference between running on the track and running when someone’s trying to hit you. “I told them there’s some fellas down the road that’ll make you get your shoulders down.”

The players are quick to admit it’s been an adjustment at times.

“In track you can’t get hit. In football, you get knocked down,”Brown said, also laughing. “I like the contact. Getting hit makes me get hyped. And when I get hit, I learn from my mistake and get better.”

North running backs coach Avery Cutshaw also plays a large part in turning the track stars into football stars. Brown bounced up from one hit Friday night and got a 17-yard touchdown scamper. Mashore raced 69 yards for a score and Russell averaged better than 16 yards a carry. And that’s bad news for North’s opponents this season — the passing game’s alive and well: so too is the running game.

“You can’t be one-dimensional. There’s been a lot of seasons when we’ve not had a very good running game, and people can prepare for us much more easily,”Secreast said. “It puts more pressure on the defense — you have to be able to run the football to be successful.”

That being said, Mashore, Brown and Russell know they aren’t the main attraction in the offense. As long as Secreast is at North with a capable QB, the Cavs will pass first, second, third …

“You get to block people and run some, but you don’t run that much,”Mashore said. “You catch some passes. The pass I like most is the tailback screen, there’s more room.”

Little things like creating running room in a passing pattern and blocking are what give Mashore, Russell or Brown the playing time. With all the talent and speed in the North offense, there’s almost too much to spread the football around.

“We won’t know each week who’s starting. They’re all starters,”Secreast said. “Unless one’s in flow and doing a whole lot better. We’re trying to split time with them evenly as much as we can. It’s a good place to be right now. ”

Sounds kind of like a relay team.