SPENCER— First, James House scored a touchdown.

Flag on the play.

Then, he sacked the quarterback, forcing a momentum-breaking fumble.

Flag on the play.

Thankfully, Jonathan Lomax was on hand to make everything work out just fine.

Two of NorthRowan’s underrated members of an underrated defense got the job done Friday night against High Point Central. As far as they’re concerned, the Cavalier defense owns as many bragging rights as the offense for North’s first-place standing in the 2ACentral Carolina Conference.

“The defense is kind of getting some recognition after all these teams we’ve played,”Lomax said. “We think we can stop anybody. We’ve proven that. Ledford’s a pretty good team, and so’s HighPoint.”

The Bison, defending state 2Achamps, walked off the field following their 36-31 loss to North much the way Ledford did after its 26-22 defeat: stunned at a pretty amazing turn of events. And at the heart of the win were Lomax and House.

House, also a tight end and special teams performer, caught a touchdown pass from Alfonzo Miller early in the third quarter, but it was waved off thanks to an illegal motion penalty. Six plays later, the Cavs fumbled at the goal line and High Point took over.

When quarterback Quincy Thomas sent an errant pitch to tailback Derrick Bryant, the 5-foot-9, 170-pound Lomax came flying into the end zone and corralled the ball for a touchdown, giving the Cavs a 36-22 lead.

On High Point’s next series, Bradley Watson fumbled while fighting for more yards. The ball laid on the turf for so long with so many players near it, it seemed as though no one even realized what happened.

Suddenly, a blur in the form of Lomax flew in from his linebacker position and covered that fumble as well.

“Their lineman, he was just standing there not looking at the ball,”Lomax said. “I just used my head. At first Iwas thinking it wasn’t a fumble. But there was a loose ball, so I’m gonna jump on it.”

High Point’s next series brought redemption for House. On a huge fourth-and-6 from the Cavalier side of midfield, House smashed Thomas and forced a fumble. But a holding call in the secondary gave the Bison a first down.

Two plays later, the 6-2, 210-pound lineman came around the corner and blind-sided Thomas, causing another fumble that Aaron Young recovered.

House quickly got up and scanned the field, then began to celebrate — no flags.

“I thought, ‘Why does every good thing I do have to get called back?’ ” House said after the first two calls. “Our (August) scrimmage at Butler, that’s when it first started. My first touchdown ever was called back.”

House just missed scoring on special teams, too, when Chris Phillips blocked a punt that bounded toward the end zone. House fell on that ball at the 2. Between them, House and Lomax recovered four loose footballs that turned into 21 points.

“At the beginning of the season, I’d have been pretty skeptical of that happening. In fact, I probably wouldn’t have believed it,” North head coach Roger Secreast said. “But that’s a little bit about Lomax and perseverance. He’s a winner, and so’s James. When you surround yourself with winners, you usually do pretty good.”

Lomax’s size made it easy for the coaches to dismiss him at first glance. One quick dismissal is usually all opposing players get, too.

“I know my size isn’t all that big,”Lomax said. “I just go hard. They think I’m little and they’re just going to knock me down.”

North’s coaches learned that wasn’t happening very often, and pretty soon, Lomax got his shot. Now, he’s in on every tackle, flying all over the field with reckless abandon.

“Jonathan persevered with us until he got a chance to really show us what he could do. Now, I don’t think there’s any way we could ever get him off the field,”Secreast said. “He’s a classic overachiever, one of those underdog stories where he’s no longer the underdog, he’s one of the top dogs.”

House’s story was much the opposite. With his size and skill, the coaches looked for big things out of the junior. He played sparingly last season, and didn’t fare well at the beginning of this year.

“At first, the coaches saw something in me that Ididn’t know. Coach (Ron) Raper always told me I had to grow up and become a man,”House said of the Cavs’ defensive coordinator. “Working out finally paid off. Now I see what the coaches were talking about.”

North can’t get House off the field, either, playing him on offense, special teams and defense.

“I like playing on both sides of the ball,”House said. “One is just as important as the other.”

With Lomax’s unexpected contributions and House reaching his potential, North’s defense has grown into as much of a weapon as the offense. Teams like High PointCentral and Ledford are finding out, quite painfully, just how much the Cavs have matured this year.

“They’re still young kids. Athletics help these boys mature a great deal because they get responsibility put on them,”Secreast said. “That’s one of the big reasons sports is so important to kids, it helps them grow up some.”