KANNAPOLIS — Like that great song from the late ‘70s, A.L. Brown’s football team hardened its heart and swallowed its tears. Then it beat the heck out of overmatched Harding 56-3 at Memorial Stadium on Friday night.

The Wonders (7-1, 4-1 South Piedmont Conference), who watched all sorts of impressive regular-season streaks go by the boards in its loss at West Rowan last week, took care of business against the sacrificial Rams, who arrived in white and gold, but exited black and blue. The entire game looked a whole lot like one of those 4-on-1 drills George O’Leary runs down at Georgia Tech.

In fact, things could have deteriorated into something along the lines of the Wonders’ 97-0 wipeout of Northwest Cabarrus a few years ago if merciful coach Ron Massey hadn’t started playing everyone equipped with a jockstrap and a jersey early in the second half.

The game began with a fired-up Jason Brown flattening six Rams into lambchops while taking the kickoff back 57 yards. Just 23 seconds into the game, the Wonders got their first touchdown when Eric Caldwell took a handoff, found no Rams left standing after his offensive line made like human lawn mowers and jogged into the end zone from 38 yards out.

It was an old-fashioned tail-kicking and there was nothing Harding coach Alvin Wideman’s boys, who are 0-8 on the season, could do to stop it.

Chris Carter scored three TDs, Caldwell two and Dale King, Jason Brown and Gerrell McCrae one each.

The Wonders didn’t alter personnel after the West game, although two starters (guard Matt Crosby and linebacker Fernando Edwards) were missing with injuries. Brown did throw more than usual, but that was due to Harding’s putting its safeties in the box and playing the Wonder wideouts 1-on-1 than any change in Massey’s philosophy.

Wonder QB Josh Lee took advantage of his opportunities, throwing for three TDs, one on a spectacular dive by Carter, another on an even more spectacular leaping grab by Brown.

“Jason had to catch that one,” said Lee. “His meal money was depending on it. His dad had told him no touchdowns, no money.”

Lee was in a joking mood because his 170-yard passing night was the biggest of his career. It included a beautiful 85-yard completion to Aundrae Allison that highlighted a 99-yard drive following a goal-line stand by the Wonder defense.

“This was a fun night,” said Lee, who like the rest of his senior teammates was honored with his parents before the game. “Fun for everyone.”

At least for everyone wearing green.

The real story in this one, of course, concerned how the Wonders would respond to what happened last week.

Not a single member of A.L. Brown’s team had any clue what it was like to show up for practice on a Monday morning after losing a football game. Guard Wally Tuttle and linebacker Duran Lipscomb have been starting in K-Town for three years, but they had no more experience than the freshmen when it came down to getting back after it after a loss.

“It was just the third game I’ve lost in four years here,” said Tuttle. “But I thought we came back good. We were real focused tonight.”

“Especially at the start,”added Tuttle’s linemate Shawn Davis. “Last weekend was the longest one I can remember, but we worked hard in practice this week. I thought it showed.”

Lee admitted there was some finger-pointing on the miserable bus ride back from West, but by Monday’s practice, the Wonders had talked things out and were determined to regroup and take their frustrations out on other teams, not one another.

“All credit goes to the kids,” said Massey, who directed the game from a new vantage point atop of the pressbox. “Especially the seniors. You know how it is with kids. Maybe we were seeing too many headlines tellin’ us how great we were and were starting to believe it. Maybe that loss helps us refocus. I know we’re not dwelling on it. It’s behind us now and we’re only looking at what’s still in front of us.”

Massey said the 1998 Kings Mountain team that he coached dropped a midseason game to Morganton Freedom that it should never have lost. But that team bounced back so strongly from that painful defeat that it eventually bounced the Wonders from the playoffs and made the trip to Chapel Hill.

Massey hopes that the Wonders will use their loss to West as a similar springboard. Their season’s far from over, after all. This isn’t like the last two years when Brown’s first loss of the season simultaneously ended its season.

“That’s what one of our seniors, Brandon Glenn, was saying to the team even before we even left our huddle after the West game,” said Massey. “We’ve got a second chance. Let’s make the most of it.”

Harding wasn’t exactly a true test, but if the new-found focus stays intact, the Wonders are talented enough not just to make the state playoffs, but to make big noise once they get there. The last Wonder team to lose in the regular season — in October of 1997 to East Rowan — did rebound to win a state championship.

“The West game was just a bad dream, but that stuff happens sometimes,” said Tuttle. “I think we know now what we have to do.”

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NOTES: Harding’s band was as awesome as advertised. If football games were played with trumpets and saxophones, the rest of the SPC would have little chance against the Rams. ... The Wonder defense got interceptions from Brown and DeAngelo Collins and a fumble recovery from Deawain McClure. ... Harding picked up a field goal on the last play of the first half.