Harvey, a senior left-hander who had finished within a stroke of first place the previous two years, shot a 5-over-par 76 at the Country Club of Salisbury to edge North Rowan’s Jonathan Allen by a stroke.

Salisbury, led by three all-Rowan County golfers, won the team title with a 317 score to runner-up East Rowan’s 320. South Rowan was third with 333, followed by North Rowan, 355, and West Rowan, 377.

Harvey shot a 70 a year ago but lost the title to South’s Michael Simpson, who turned in a 69. Two years ago, Harvey finished a stroke back of co-champions Kevin Lentz and Shane Benfield of East.

“I shot 70 last year, a lot better than I did this year,” said Harvey. “He (Simpson) played good that day, and I played well that day, too. I made more putts that day.

“Today,I just couldn’t make a putt to save my life,” he continued. “I’m not happy with the way I played. I’m happy that I ended up winning. I missed about a three-footer on No. 1 (his last hole) there that really hurt. I about cried after that. I thought I lost it with that putt. Luckily, I ended up winning it.”

However, he held off North’s Allen by a stroke. Joining them on the all-county team were Salisbury’s Adam Jordan and East’s Tyler Sloop and Scott Young, who shot 78s; West’s Graham Rabon and Salisbury’s Sam Saunders, who shot 80s; and South’s Seth Fagan, who finished with an 81.

Harvey admitted he was motivated by finishing second last year and third the year before, when he shot a 35 for nine holes and lost to 36s.

“It motivated me a lot. It feels good to finally get it,” he said.

Now he takes aim on the state 2A title at Finley Golf Course in Chapel Hill next Monday and Tuesday, when he will be the only Salisbury golfer in the field.

“This helps my confidence a lot. I haven’t been playing 100 percent all year. I think I should have gotten Player of the Year, but I ended up getting Co-Player of the Year in the CCC (Central Carolina Conference),” said Harvey, who shared that honor with Chris Jarrell of North Stanly.

“I’m going to give it a shot to win it next week. I finished fifth last year in it, and the four that beat me all graduated,” said Harvey.

His Salisbury team won’t be competing because the Hornets failed to qualify during the Mid West Regional in Monroe earlier this week.

“It’s going to be really different. We finished top three in the state all three years I’ve been here. I’m upset. I wish they could have played a little bit better, but they’re a young team and I think they’ll do good next year,” Harvey said. “Salisbury golf is good. I think we’re the best in Rowan County and we proved it today.”

Coach Raymond Daugherty of the Hornets said, “I figured it would be close with East and South. ...I’m just happy that our young men bounced back after a bad showing in the regionals on Tuesday. Yes, I hoped to win, I expected to win and I think we expected to win. Maybe that’s part of the reason we played as poor as we did. I did not think we played well today.”

The Salisbury coach praised his top three finishers.

“All three of those young men had bad holes early and held it in the road and came back. That’s the reason we won,” he pointed out.

Ben Everhart’s 83 rounded out the top for four the Hornets, while Josh Garwood shot an 86 and Preston Jones a 94.

For runner-up East, Sloop and Young were followed by Nathan Frick and Adam Graham with 82s, JeremyHarper with an 89 and Charlie Leazer with a 91.

“We haven’t played that good this year, but it’s been a season where we haven’t played a lot with the rain,” said East coach Gilbert Sprinkle. “I felt we had a pretty good chance of winning it this year, I really did. We’ve got six good golfers. I thought we had as good a chance as anybody.”

East won its last title in 1997 before Salisbury started its three-year streak.

Third-place South had balance with Fagan’s 81, Brandon Shirley’s 83, Andrew Burr’s 84 and SeanKramer’s 85 leading the way.