WALLBURG— Of course the Cavaliers had a backup plan in case star quarterback Graham Hosch got injured this season. Teams always have backup plans.

Starting in August, Alfonzo Miller began taking some snaps under center. Every so often, North Rowan would dust off the Miller offense just to keep it fresh, then put it away because the Cavs never, ever wanted to play without Hosch.

What would a North offense look like without Hosch? He leads the county — by more than twice the margin of the second-best passer — with 1,483 yards, averaging 247.2 per game.

Miller’s experience in the passing game all comes at the other end of those bombs. He’s the leading receiver in the county with 34 catches for 547 yards and six touchdowns.

Suddenly, though, Miller found himself playing quarterback, and not on the practice field. Hosch hurt his knee last week against South Rowan, then re-injured it in gym class. That left Miller in charge for a key clash in the 2ACentral Carolina Conference that quickly looked like a colossal mismatch.

“We just had to go to our contingency plan,”Cavs head coach Roger Secreast said. “We have a backup plan in case anything happens to Graham. We just hope we don’t have to use it. We really thought Graham could give them some trouble throwing the football because our speed was a little bit more than their secondary had.”

Ah, speed. Weapon No. 1 in the Cavaliers’ arsenal.

Combined with Weapon No. 2 — giant linemen who towered over their Ledford counterparts — North had the perfect game plan for a 26-22 upset.

“I knew it was going to work out,”Miller said Friday night. “We’ve been practicing it the whole week. Coach told me to step in and step it up. I told him I’d do my best.”

Hosch, when healthy, can run. But the Cavs don’t ever run because he passes the ball so well. North had rushed for just 657 yards in six games heading into Ledford. The Cavs had been held to less than 100 yards three times and managed just 13 yards on the ground against A.L. Brown.

North throws the ball. Always. Ledford knew that, and flooded the secondary to open the game. TheCavs marched down the field on a 19-play, 76-yard drive that ate 7:23 off the clock. Miller ran nine times, Marcus Lawing rushed six times.

“When we were warming up we saw all the coaches come over, scratching their heads over who this No. 1 guy was,”North center Jarrett Wishon said. “In the first half, whenever Alfonzo went into the shotgun, they all expected pass. In the second half they were trying to adjust to the run.”

It didn’t work in either half. Ledford had scored on its first drive, and answered North’s touchdown with another of its own. Then the Cavs went back to work. Lawing and Miller ran seven times on North’s next drive, which went 65 yards in nine plays to make it 14-13 after a blocked extra point.

North trailed 22-19 with a minute to play in the third quarter when the Cavs turned on the jets again. Chris Phillips, another top receiver, took Miller’s handoff and raced 65 yards on an end-around to put North up 26-22.

And while Phillips did plenty of work, breaking tackles on his way to the end zone, he downplayed his role in the game-winning score.

“That was all Jarrett Wishon,”he said after the game.

And why not? Those big guys love run blocking.

“When you’re run blocking, you get to come out and smack people: smash-mouth football,”Wishon explained. “Pass blocking, you take one step back and try to mirror the defensive guy.

“I love pulling, like when Chris got the ball,”Wishon added, claiming three kills on the end-around. “That’s one that feels real good, taking out the whole line.”

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Wishon, at 6-foot-2, 275-pounds, anchored a line that battered and bruised the Panthers all night. The size difference showed immediately: when Ledford QB Hall lined up under center, the 6-3, 187-pounder actually appeared bigger than most of his linemen.

That trend continued over to the defensive side of the ball, even with regular starter Ben Motley out with a knee injury. Matt Lyerly, a 5-10, 180-pound senior, filled in admirably at the one tackle, with regular starter Matt Hestwood (6-5, 280) on the other side.

Mack Ellis (5-11, 240) and Alex Gordon (5-11, 265) lined up on either side of Wishon and the Panthers had no answer.

Secreast had so much confidence in his big men that the Cavs lined up for fourth-and-1, on their own 33, less than five minutes into the game. The pile moved forward, Miller snuck in behind it, first down.

That play was a recurring theme for the game. North converted two other fourth downs, including one on a fake punt. After Phillips’ go-ahead touchdown, the Cavalier offense played keep-away with Ledford over the final 12 minutes.

North’s defense forced a punt, the Cavs ran seven times, took 4:17 off the clock and punted. Phillips pulled down an interception and the offense went back to work: eight plays, six runs, 3:43 and punt.

In all, the Cavs ran 16 times and threw once in the fourth quarter.

“Alfonzo saw a crease and he’d tap me to tell me which way to go,”Wishon said. “I told him I’d give him three yards every time. Any more than that, he’d have to fight for himself.”

Ledford turned the ball over on downs for its final possession and finally, the Cavalier offense gave some ground. Three times in fact, as Miller kneeled to kill the clock.

In the raucous celebration that followed, a teammate compared Miller’s performance — 106 yards on 29 carries — to Virginia Tech’s electric QB Michael Vick.

Not too bad for a backup.

“All week we knew Graham wasn’t going to play,”Wishon said. “We just practiced as hard as we could and it came through for us.”