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Thirty-two players made the 2000 All-Rowan County football team — one fewer than last year’s record number — but somewhere out there, there’s a kid who didn’t make the elite team, who’s going to use that as motivation to dominate the 2001 season.
That mystery kid has the perfect role model in West Rowan linebacker James Francis.
Francis narrowly missed making the All-County team in 1999 when Rowan had an overload of outstanding linebackers. He smiled and insisted back in August he was going to prove some people wrong in 2000. He did just that. This year’s 10-person voting panel — five sportswriters and the five county head coaches — not only placed Francis on the team, they named him Defensive Player of the Year.
Francis, who turned in a magnificent 177-tackle season that carried him all the way to the Shrine Bowl, outpolled fellow linebackers Joel Reyes of South and Ken Drye of Salisbury to lead this year’s defensive unit.
“James was big-time for us,” said West coach Scott Young. “He played his best in the biggest games.”
The game that will be remembered as long as they play football in Rowan County came when West traveled to Concord on Oct. 14, less than 24 hours after Francis learned his sister, Lakeina, was missing and presumed dead after the USS Cole was attacked by terrorists in Yemen.
No one was certain if Francis would even play, but play he did. He turned in the game of his life in an amazing triumph of the human spirit over tragedy. Young called it the most inspiring performance he’s ever seen by a high school athlete.
“James played with pride all year. He made us a much better football team,” said Young.
“I know he was great against us,” added South coach Rick Vanhoy.
And it’s not like Francis picked on South. He was great against everyone. That’s why he’s West’s first county defensive player of the year since L.C. Lynch in 1982. That’s fitting, because he was also the Falcons’ first Shrine Bowl representative since Lynch.
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Francis so dominated the defensive side of the field that his selection as the top player came somewhat easily.
Not so on offense.
Out at West Rowan, senior quarterback Jared Barnette had 21 touchdown tosses and finished second in the county with 1,631 passing yards.
At South, Keith Garrett was the county’s top rusher — and only 1,000-yard back — finishing with 1,037 yards and a county-high 15 regular-season TDs.
Each player received several votes. But no one could overlook the most unique season in this county — and perhaps throughout the state and nation — enjoyed by North Rowan’s Alfonzo Miller.
Through six games, Miller, a junior, led all county receivers with an astonishing 547 yards on 34 catches. Thanks to the wide-open Cavalier offense and pin-point passing of QBGraham Hosch, Miller was on a record pace.
But Hosch suffered a knee injury in that sixth game at SouthRowan. He needed surgery, and his season under center was over.
In stepped Miller.
North finished the regular season with five straight wins, including upsets of Central CarolinaConference favorites Ledford and High Point Central. In those final five games, Miller amassed 493 passing yards on 35-for-71 accuracy. He added 335 yards on the ground.
All told, he accounted for 1,375 yards and 14 touchdowns in the regular season. And when you throw in North’s three playoff games, with Miller guiding the Cavs to the 2A quarterfinals, the numbers grow even more staggering: 871 passing yards and 595 rushing for a total of 2,013 and 27 touchdowns — 13 rushing, six receiving and eight through the air.
“Alfonzo is just gifted with athletic ability,”North head coach Roger Secreast said. “You could play anywhere on the field with those gifts.
“The receiving yards, that’s the phenomenal part,”Secreast added. “The other two parts (rushing and passing)are what a quarterback is supposed to do in that offense.”
Secreast knows that all too well: his Cavaliers have won nine of the last 11 offensive player of the year awards.
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This year’s All-County squad features 12 players from West (tying the unofficial record for most representatives from one team); 10 from South; five from North; three from Salisbury; and two from East.
“It was a great year in this county,” said West linebacker S.J. Culbertson. “Imean, we had two guys in the Shrine Bowl, didn’t we?”
Indeed Rowan did. And for the second straight year. Joining Francis was North O-lineman Jarrett Wishon.
“You had to feel good if you made this all-county team,” added Drye. “I think this senior class is one of the best there’s been in this county. I was proud to be part of it.”
One thing’s for sure. Everything goes in cycles. West had just two players on the team as recently as ‘96 and East placed a dozen players on the squad just two years ago.
Two standouts made the team for the third year in a row — North senior wideout Dre Byrd and East return specialist Cal Hayes Jr. Hayes, a junior, will have a chance to go 4-for-4 on all-county teams in 2001 (it shouldn’t be a problem since he goes 4-for-4 quite a bit on the baseball diamond). That’s a feat only North’s Jeff Chambers and East’s Danny Misenheimer have accomplished in the last decade.
There were another 10 players who made the team for the second straight year. That list includes receiver Horatio Everhart, running back Jonathan Diggs, Culbertson and offensive lineman Matt Moore of West; Garrett, kicker Robby Basinger, and defensive back Ricky Childers of South; Salisbury’s two-way terror Drye, who made the team at running back; and North’s Miller and Wishon.
The all-county squad is always dominated by seniors, but there’s still plenty of talent that will return next season in addition to Miller and Hayes. West juniors Everhart and Ben Hampton will return to pace a potent Falcon offense. Linebacker Jay Phillips and DBs Childers and Brad “Hit Man” Lanning will be back to keep South near the top of the defensive stats.
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The all-county offensive backfield is loaded with West’s Jared Barnette at quarterback and with Garrett, Drye, Hampton and Diggs at running back spots. A tie in the voting created an extra running back berth.
Everhart and Byrd are the receivers.
Moore, Wishon, West’s Taurus Cunningham and South’s Brett Lloyd and Tripp Isenhour make up the offensive line.
Basinger, who had 10 field goals, is the placekicker, with Hayes the return man and Salisbury’s Gromkyo Walker the punter.
Seven players made the team on the defensive line after a four-way tie for the final spot. That beefy group includes West’s Brant Marlin and J.D. Watkins; North’s Marcus Hayes; South’s Randy Rigsby and Jimmy Propst; Salisbury’s Justin West; and East’s Cody Merrifield.
The linebacking corps is made up of Phillips, Reyes and Culbertson.
The secondary includes five players, again because of a tie for the final spot. West’s Eric Weimer, who broke the school mark for interceptions, and Terris Sifford; South’s Lanning and Childers; and North’s Chris Phillips make up that group.
Unanimous picks for the team after player of the year voting was conducted were Barnette, Garrett, Wishon, Isenhour, Basinger, Hayes, Walker and Chris Phillips.
It is a team that everyone would love to coach and one that no one would love to coach against.
“It’s 32 kids,” summed up Young, “but they’re all great football players. There were some more deserving ones who were left off.”
Closest to making the team, but just missing, were East linebacker Blake Abernathy and North offensive lineman Matt Hestwood. Abernathy and Hestwood are seniors, but like we said at the start, there’s probably a sophomore or junior out there who was overlooked who’s going to make us all feel a little foolish this time next year.
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