KANNAPOLIS — Rowan County returned to the scene of the crime and solved the mystery. But not without some anxious moments.

Rowan’s American Legion baseball team reigns as the Area III champion after defeating a never-say-die Kannapolis team three games to one in the best-of-five finals.

Friday night’s series finale was a wild one which saw Kannapolis bolt to an early 11-2 lead only to watch Rowan score the next 14 runs. Coach Jim DeHart’s Rowan club held off a ninth-inning rally by the home team to eke out a 16-14 victory.

Rowan went into the bottom of the ninth with a 16-11 lead, but knew it had been in the same situation in Game 2 on Wednesday. DeHart’s team led 9-3 going into the last of the ninth in that contest, but a seven-run uprising by the K-town club won the game 10-9 to even the series.

Rowan, now 28-11, came back to win Game 3 at home by a score of 10-5, setting up the possible clincher Friday at Veterans Field.

The Rowan victory over coach Joe Hubbard’s 22-16 Kannapolis club had its share of stars, but one of them, relief pitcher Philip Goodman, was in the limelight for the first time.

Goodman, a knuckleballing right-hander who had pitched only 8 13 innings all season, shut out Kannapolis for 4 2/3 innings while his team charged back from the 11-2 deficit to take the lead.

“I know I hadn’t got a lot of work, but I was trying to come out here and show him (DeHart) what I could do for him,” said Goodman, who allowed only three hits, walked three men, hit one batter, struck out one and improved his record to 1-0 with the relief victory. “Luckily, it worked out pretty good.

“I had the knuckleball working pretty good. The curveball was hanging up a little bit. I got it to start breaking ... got on top of it more. The fastball wasn’t too bad. It was a pretty good night, a decent night,” said Goodman in an understatement.

Goodman wasn’t the only pitching star for Rowan. Left-hander Julian Sides, who earned the save at home on Thursday night despite suffering from mononucleosis, relieved Goodman in the seventh inning and got another save.

Sides walked the first man he faced, then retired four straight batters. A bases-loaded, three-run double by Ben Hampton in the top of the ninth gave him a five-run, 16-11 cushion. Then came the bottom of the ninth, when Kannapolis is most dangerous.

“I was just thinking, ‘Try to throw strikes and get them out,’” said Sides. “We had plenty of lead and everything. I was just coming out trying to shut them down.”

Sides got his third straight strikeout when he fanned Nate Amerson to start the ninth. Then Steve Swann doubled to left. Chris Florence followed with a sinking liner to left that went for a triple after Hampton attempted a diving catch. An infield throwing error by third baseman Thad Ogg was followed by singles by Zach Gurley and Chad Tuttle. Suddenly, Kannapolis had the winning run at the plate in Bobby Helms.

“I was getting kind of scared there for a little bit,” said Sides, echoing the feeling of every Rowan fan who had witnessed the amazing seven-run ninth inning rally by Kannapolis two nights earlier.

DeHart knew Sides had to finish it, because left-hander Daniel Moore was out of the game after starting at first base, and right-hander Brian Hatley couldn’t pitch because of a sore arm.

Sides used breaking pitches to strike out Helms, then got Dusty Carmichael on a grounder to Ogg to end it.

“I was happy everything worked out. That last batter (Carmichael) is a real good fastball hitter. I was trying to keep it low and give him some offspeed stuff to try to make him hit it so we could make a play on it,” Sides pointed out.

While Goodman and Sides were the pitching heroes, Rowan had more than its share of productive hitters. Hatley went 5-for-5 and his third homer of the season and five runs batted in. Drew Davis was 3-for-4 with his first home and three RBIs. Red-hot Cal Hayes Jr. was 3-for-6 with three doubles, driving in two runs.

The homers by Hatley (with two on) and Davis (with one on) two batters later highlighted Rowan’s seven-run fourth inning that made it a close contest. Both homers went about 360 feet to left field.

Rowan’s seven-run inning had matched Kannapolis’ seven-run outburst in the first frame and it shifted the momentum to the visitors.

“We knew we had to make something happen, and we did,” said Davis.

DeHart had praise for pitchers Goodman and Sides plus his offense that produced 17 hits, 10 for extra bases.

“Philip throws strikes,” he said of Goodman. “We haven’t had an opportunity to use him that much this year with the staff we’ve got. However, we do know he can throw strikes. With that knuckleball, he’s tough to hit.”

As for Hatley, Hayes and Davis going a combined 11-for-15 with seven extra-base hits, DeHart said, “We need them. With those three in the lineup like that, they’re pretty powerful.”