The West Rowan Falcons put on quite an offensive show in their 20-7 victory at North Rowan on Friday night, and quarterback Jared Barnette enjoyed it thoroughly.

“It’s a lot of fun when you know you can go out the first possession and push it down their throat,” said the senior quarterback.

West actually took it down the field quickly on its second possesion, going 80 yards in only seven plays, one of them a 50-yard run by tailback-fullback Jonathan Diggs.

Coach Scott Young’s Falcons needed only three plays to go 39 yards for their second TD, which came on a 28-yard pass from Barnette to running back-wide receiver Ben Hampton.

Kendall High’s blocked punt set up the final TD drive of 18 yards. Diggs got the score from 5 yards out.

West racked up 337 total yards, 304 of it coming on the ground. Diggs led the way with 182 in 29 carries, while freshman Joe Jackson added 115 on 15 attempts.

“It’s great; it’s awesome,” said Barnette of the ground game led by Diggs and Jackson, who started his first game. “You can putt Diggs at fullback and put him at tailback. Joe’s great at tailback. Then you’ve got Ben (Hampton). Ben’s just an all-around athlete. He can just about play anywhere. I love him at receiver, because he can catch.”

The quarterback added, “Coach (Scott Young) told us to try to keep the defense off as much as possible, and we did our job.”

The Falcons ran 58 offensive plays, 50 of them on the ground.

Barnette was 2-for-8 passing for 33 yards, but said of the Falcons’ passing, “It’s getting there gradually. I am going to have to learn to stay in the pocket more, and our receivers have just got to run hard and run good routes.”

Barnette had a solid junior season as a passer, completing 79 of 157 for 980 yards and 12 touchdowns.

The A.L. Brown game is so big for South Rowan that it often takes an emotional toll on the Raiders every time they fall short.

So the biggest task ahead this week for head coach Rick Vanhoy, as he prepares for resurgent Salisbury, is to make sure his team puts the disappointment of Friday’s 28-7 loss to the Wonders behind them and gets on with the season.

“We’ll tell the kids that we’re still the same team that beat East, the same team that beat West,” said Vanhoy. “We’re still a good football team.”

“We’ll find out Monday at practice who still wants to go hard and who wants to win some ballgames,” added South running back Keith Garrett.

INJURYUPDATE: South defensive end Joel Patterson was flipped in the air and landed hard on his back on a Wonder extra-point kick.

He stayed down was taken from the field by ambulance, but Vanhoy said Saturday that his injuries aren’t serious.

“Just a bruised back,” said Vanhoy. “He’ll likely miss the Salisbury game.”

The only other Raider hurt in the game was Justin Pinyan, who received a sprained neck.

n

RIGHTCALL: After watching the game tape, Vanhoy agreed with the critical offensive pass interference call late in the first half which negated a Garrett touchdown and was the single biggest play of Friday’s game.

“They made the right call,” said Vanhoy. “Our kid just made a mistake.”

The flag was thrown well away from Garrett against a wide receiver, who was attempting to make a block.

n

INA RUSH: South actually out-rushed the Wonders 170-139, but a 4-0 turnover differential was too much to overcome.

“We could move the ball,” said Vanhoy, “but they made the big plays.”

n

PARKERPOWER: Former South boys basketball coach Bob Parker was in the pressbox Friday night doing his own special brand of radio commentary.

“My son (Adrian, a former South and Catawba player) is in graduate school in Communications at Southern Mississippi,” Parker said. “I told him. ‘Hey, how hard can it be to get a job in that field?’ I just walked up and they put me to work.”

It appeared much worse than it was.

Everyone fell silent during the third quarter of East Rowan’s 40-32 win at Mount Pleasant Friday night when Justin Leazer stuck his head into the mix and did not get up.

The Mustang lineman did not move as the game was postponed for about 30 minutes as coaches, trainers and then medical personnel were called to the scene.

Coach Tommy Eanes and Tiger coach Michael Johns, stood by in horror as Leazer was taken to NorthEast Medical Center in Concord.

Saturday morning, Eanes went to the Catawba-Livingstone college game and said Leazer was home.

“He was whiplashed with a shoe,” said Eanes. “He was kicked in the kidney.

“Justin was in pain like I’ve never seen. They thought it might be his spleen but it was back spasms.”

When you think of A.L. Brown, you think of their fine quarterback Josh Lee, explosive running backs Chris Carter and Chris Carter and a powerful defensive line.

But maybe it’s time to give the secondary and secondary coach Buddy Amerson some attention.

In two games, 15 passes have been thrown against the Wonder secondary, whose starters are corners DeAngelo Collins and Chris Gibson, strong safety Jason Brown and free safety Charlie Fox.

Four of those 15 aerials have been picked off, while only two have been completed — for a whopping 20 yards.

“The secondary is doing a super job,” said head coach Ron Massey, who will be more than happy to yield 10 yards per game through the air the rest of the season.

The ultimate test for that secondary will come on Sept. 15 when the Wonders visit North Rowan in Spencer. The Cavs are averaging 256 passing yards per contest after games with East and West.

n

LONGRANGE:Wonder kicker Rush Rollins converted a 35-yard extra point on Friday after the Wonders scored a touchdown and then were assessed 15 yards on the PAT for unsportsmanlike conduct.

The PAT was longer than either of Rollins’ field goals against Statesville in the Wonders’ opener.

The Cavaliers had their share of offense, even though they scored only one touchdown in the loss to West.

Quarterback Graham Hosch completed 22 of 35 passes for 246 yards and one touchdown.

North added 76 yards on the ground for 322 total offense.

Wide receiver Alfonzo Miller caught seven of Hosch’s passes for 85 yards. Phillips and wide receiver Dre Byrd each caught six throws.

n

Mike London and Ronnie Gallagher contributed to the notebook.