It’s obvious that West Rowan’s football game at home against Kannapolis A.L. Brown tonight is the biggest game of the season in Rowan County or the South Piedmont Conference.

But it also may be the biggest game in history for West’s Falcons.

Coach Scott Young’s West club is off to an impressive 5-1 start, while the perennial power Wonders are 6-0. Both teams are 3-0 in the SPC, a half-game back of Concord, which is 4-0.

West’s most important games ever before tonight can probably be narrowed down to five seasons.

The Falcons of 1967, coached by Bruce Morton, had played four games without a loss. A 7-7 tie with North Davidson in Game 3 kept West from being 4-0 and from being 2-0 in the old North Piedmont Conference. The Falcons faced a contest with county rival North Rowan, which had not defeated West since 1962.

Butch Young scored for West in the opening quarter on a 1-yard run, but the Falcons’ 7-0 lead wasn’t enough. North, coached by Steve Yates, roared back to win 20-7.

When that season ended, North Davidson had won the NPC title with an unusual 6-0-2 record, while West finished second at 6-1-1. Only one team in each league went to the playoffs, so West, 8-1-1 overall, was out.

Another big contest for the Falcons came when Raymond Daugherty was head coach in 1985. West had gone the previous two seasons with a combined 2-18 mark, but went 5-5 in 1985 to make the state playoffs for the first time. A powerful Statesville club eliminated West 48-0 in the first round of the 3A playoffs.

Two years later the Falcons were back in the playoffs in Randall Ward’s second year as head coach, this time against North Iredell.

The Falcons made quite an upset bid on the road against a North Iredell team that was 10-0 and a solid favorite. The passing of Jay Jarrell to Max Hess and the running of Eric Hudson kept West in the contest all the way. It ended 30-all in regulation, then Charles Love’s Raiders won it 33-30 on an overtime field goal. The North Rowan connection was there, because the recently retired Love is an East Spencer native.

West had another big pair of games under Ward in 1988, making it to the playoffs again and defeating South Iredell 14-0 in the opening round behind a great defensive effort and the running of Darryl King and James Stockton, who each surpassed 100 yards. The Vikings managed only 93 yards total offense while losing to West for the second time.

Coach Ron Raper’s Falcons of 1994 were involved in four crucial games. First, West lost its first Yadkin Valley Conference contest to North Rowan 49-32, a game in which the Cavaliers’ Mitch Ellis outdueled the Falcons’ Tim Hogue in a wild passing duel. Hogue had more passing yardage, but the Cavaliers picked off four of his passes.

West still had a chance to end up in a three-way tie for the YVC title by knocking off Albemarle late in the season, but the Bulldogs won 47-20, then defeated North Rowan 28-21 in overtime the next week, so West ended up third.

That set up the Falcons’ best playoff showing in history — a 26-20 upset of previously unbeaten Starmount in the first round of the 2A playoffs and a 34-30 loss to Ellis and North in the second round.

Six years later, West has hopes of its first conference championship in history, but the Falcons have to beat A.L. Brown for the first time in school history to have that chance. Because this game is against the Wonders, it seems bigger than all those big games in the past.

Last week’s dismal high school prediction record of 10-4 left the season mark at 74-18 for a percentage of .804.

This week’s choices:

West lost its first game ever against A.L. Brown by 18-6 in 1965. The Wonders won again 27-7 the next season. West was fortunate not to play the Wonders for the next 22 years. The rivalry resumed in 1989, and the Falcons have been outscored by 259-56 in the last eight meetings. The numbers are against West tonight, but this is a physical bunch of Falcons. They have a chance at home. — West Rowan 24, A.L. Brown 21.

North Rowan travels to play Ledford in an important Central Carolina Conference game. The Panthers have given the Cavaliers problems the past two years. Ledford, off to a 5-1 start, looks tough. — Ledford 28, North Rowan 16.

Salisbury will be seeking an upset of CCC favorite HighPoint Central at home. The Hornets have dropped four in a row since shocking Concord. The Bison will be hard to stop. — High Point Central 34, Salisbury 13.

Davie County’s War Eagles start their Central Piedmont Conference schedule at home against West Forsyth. The winner will have to be rated one of the teams to beat in the league. — West Forsyth 24, Davie County 21.

North Stanly’s Comets face an East Davidson team that is better than its 2-5 record. The Golden Eagles have a strong offense. — East Davidson 40, North Stanly 8.

Other picks:

Concord over Northwest Cabarrus, Central Cabarrus over Piedmont, Sun Valley over Harding, Mooresville over South Caldwell, R.J. Reynolds over Mount Tabor, and Albemarle over West Davidson.

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Ed Dupree is senior sports writer of the Post.