Salisbury Post Online:  Local news, weather, sports and more!
Serving historic Rowan County, North Carolina since 1905.

Picking the dream team

BY MIKE LONDON
SALISBURY POST

The Post’s sportswriters were delighted that East Rowan lineman Danny Misenheimer made the team, as well as another trio of players from our coverage area— Kannapolis defensive lineman Des Williams, Davie defensive back Zeke Earle and North Stanly punter Wes Herlocker. But we were disappointed that North Rowan quarterback Mario Sturdivant and West Rowan kick returner Justin Davis, among others, didn’t.

The AP asked for our nominees during Shrine Bowl Week. Usually we send them two or three. This year, though, we sent them 13. That’s a ton, but when you think about it, West, North, East and South Rowan all had successful seasons. Kannapolis was its standard 12-1. Davie was devastating. North Stanly was not strong, but unquestionably had three of the state’s most talented players in its backfield.

We nominated Sturdivant, obviously. His numbers were magnificent. Numbers like 2,346 yards and 23 touchdown passes. We also nominated Mario’s top receiver — Alfonzo Miller, who was on the business end of nearly 1,000 of Sturdivant’s yards and 13 of his TDs. And we gave a nod to North’s best lineman — Jarrett Wishon — the leader of a group that gave the Shrine Bowl QB time to break records.

We nominated another QB, as well. Kannapolis’ Justin Hardin, who we might just see in the East-West game this summer. Hardin had more conservative numbers than Mario — 1,314 yards and 17 TDs — but there were also many games in which the Wonders blew people out and Hardin didn’t throw the ball the whole second half.

Besides Earle, we offered Davie kicker David Wooldridge, who booted 13 field goals from as far away as 50 yards.

And in addition to Herlocker, we suggested the Comets’ magnificent defensive back O.J. Owens, who’s currently on a whirlwind tour of nice places like Florida State and Tennessee, trying to decide his college destination. He’s this year’s Nick Maddox.

The AP stressed that kick returners shouldn’t be forgotten on nomination lists, and we felt that we had two of the best around — East’s Cal Hayes (three kickoff returns for TDs) and West’s Davis (four kick returns for TDs, three on punts). The AP also begged for tight ends, so we offered Daniel Pinyan of South, the best in our area. Pinyan wasn’t a household name even in Rowan and had modest receiving numbers (20 for 289), but he was one heck of a blocker in Rick Vanhoy’s wishbone offense.

Our nomination list could have been even larger, of course. We did not nominate outstanding running backs Kamal Watkins (North Stanly), Marcello Stanback (Kannapolis), Scooter Dalton (West), Ricky White (Davie) or Keith Garrett (South) — all of whom had sensational seasons. Mostly because running back is the most difficult position of all at which to make All-State. Our guys rushed for 1,000 yards, but there were people like Brevard’s Manny Deshauters and High Point Central’s Chuckie Reed out there, who galloped for well over 2,000.

n

Once, the nominees are decided upon, the Post becomes a sort of campaign manager for its guys. That’s the tough part, because in 25 words or so we’re supposed to convince a sports writer from Asheville or Wilmington why one of our kids should be All-State. And, of course, at the same time, they’re trying to make a case to us for their own guy at the same position.

With someone like Sturdivant or Hardin, we can state our case easily. We just point at the numbers.

With someone like Misenheimer, it’s much harder. How do you explain to someone in 25 words — someone who has never seen him play— what Dynamite Danny brings to a football field?

Just after Christmas, the AP sent us a ballot with a list of all the nominees from across the state.

Realistically, we figured our best hopes for the team were Sturdivant and Miller, punter Herlocker, kicker Wooldridge and return men Davis and Hayes. Because those guys had stats that jumped right off the computer screen.

We were homers when we filled out our own ballots, of course, voting for each of our 13 guys. And don’t forget, the Post, for a middle-sized paper, has considerable power in this process. We had one of the 17 votes (hey, that’s 6 percent), so on this particular “committee” we have an equal say with the Charlotte Observer or the Winston-Salem Journal.

Obviously, we hadn’t seen all the players, but North Rowan had run into Brevard’s Deshauters and both South and Davie had run into 4A champ Asheville Reynolds and its fine defensive lineman Jon Haney. Deshauters and Haney got our votes, as did a host of players from 2A champ High Point Central, who we watched trample North Rowan and Salisbury.

We voted for the famous college recruits around the state — people like Raleigh Millbrook defensive end Jermicus Banks. And we voted for linemen like Russ Bonham of Carver, Donte Ames of Richmond County and Skip Seagraves of 3A state champ Burlington Williams because we knew their teams were awesome and their writers felt they were the best guys on those powerhouses. Then we sent in our ballot and crossed our fingers.

First the bad news. Sturdivant was beaten out by East Wilkes’ Luke Samples who has a gaudy reputation and numbers very similar to Mario’s. All we can say is that Mario was the best QB North Carolina had in the Shrine Bowl.

Terrell Timmons of Northeast Guilford was the choice at kick returner. All we can say is that if he’s better than Hayes and Davis, we look forward to seeing him in the NFL.

Miller and Wooldridge didn’t make it either, but maybe that’s because they were mere sophomores. No sophs made the select team and only one junior was chosen. But their day will come.

Owens? Who knows? He didn’t make the ShrineBowl, either.

But now the good news. Herlocker (45.3 yards per punt) made it easily. He had to.

Williams made it and deserved it. Maybe he swayed votes because people around the state know about Kannapolis. Writers must have voted for “Big Des” for the same reason we go with Richmond County guys.

Earle was a pleasant surprise, because he was ignored on some all-area teams. Maybe it was our description of his amazing 24-tackle game against Mount Tabor. Maybe it was his mind-boggling number of blocked kicks. Maybe it was just the incredible name “Zeke Earle” that grabbed the attention of voters, who had never seen or heard of him.

But the one we really wanted (besides Sturdivant, Rowan’s Offensive Player of the Year) was Misenheimer.

The hard part was the split decision to nominate him on offense or defense. He was, after all, Rowan’s Defensive Player of the Year. But we went with offense, because that’s where he played in the Shrine Bowl and where he’ll most likely play in college.

The voters out there didn’t have any offensive numbers on Misenheimer, so maybe what got him over the hump was the quote from his coach,Jeff Safrit, that we included in his sales pitch: “SPCDefensivePlayer of the Year. Four-year starter on both offense and defense. That about says it.”

The only school in our coverage area from which we didn’t nominate a kid was Salisbury High. But next year? Hey, we’re already getting the bandwagon rolling for junior linebacker Ken Drye. He’s our man.

n

Mike London covers prep football for the Post.