Strange things are happening in Rowan County high school football, in case you haven’t noticed.

West Rowan (2-1), which has had only eight winning records in history, could have back-to-back winning seasons for only the third time ever, and coach Scott Young’s Falcons could break the school record of 15 wins over two seasons.

Rick Vanhoy’s South Rowan Raiders (2-1), who finished 1999 on a roll, have won five of their last six regular-season contests. Another win at Salisbury tonight would give the Raiders their best record over parts of two years since 1987-88, when Reid Bradshaw’s teams put together a seven-game win streak.

Salisbury’s Hornets, 0-11 last year and riding a three-season 16-game losing streak after their 2000 opener, have already won as many games as they’ve won in either of the previous four years. With two more victories, coach Raymond Daugherty’s club (2-1) can match the win total of the previous four Salisbury teams combined.

East Rowan’s Mustangs, who haven’t had a losing record since 1995, are off to a 1-2 start and face tough South Piedmont Conference opponents Central Cabarrus, West Rowan, Northwest Cabarrus, A.L. Brown and Concord during the next two months. Defensively, East is yielding 47 points a game, putting the Mustangs on a school and possibly county record pace.

North Rowan’s Cavaliers, riding a streak of 10 straight winning regular seasons, will have to work to continue that tradition. Coach Roger Secreast’s club, 1-1, has a tough schedule that includes 4A Scotland County tonight, A.L. Brown next week, arch-rival Salisbury, South Rowan, Ledford and HighPoint Central. The Cavaliers’ last losing season was 1-9 in 1989, while the 1990 club broke even at 5-5.

Last week’s prediction record of 16-2 improved the season mark to 28-5 for a percentage of .848.

This week’s guesses:

South Rowan and Salisbury are riding high early in the season, both hoping to be 3-1 after tonight. Both teams have solid defenses. Offensively, the Raiders might have the edge — South Rowan 21, Salisbury 12.

Central Cabarrus’ only victory so far was over Mount Pleasant, but the Vikings have an explosive offense. Defense, of course, has been East Rowan’s biggest problem — Central Cabarrus 49, East Rowan 20.

The Cavaliers of North Rowan will be trying to play well at 4A Scotland County for the second straight year. The Flying Scots won only 22-12 last year — Scotland County 31, North Rowan 14.

Davie County will be trying to even its mark at 2-2 at tough Ledford. It could be quite a contest — Ledford 24, Davie County 17.

A.L. Brown goes after its third straight at Sun Valley. No contest — A.L. Brown 42, Sun Valley 0.

North Stanly’s Comets travel to play county rival West Stanly, which is off to a 3-0 start — West Stanly 42, North Stanly 16.

Other picks: Concord over Piedmont, Northwest Cabarrus over Harding, HighPoint Central over Greensboro Smith, North Davidson over Lexington, East Davidson over South Davidson, Mooresville over Alexander Central, Albemarle over Mount Pleasant, Central Davidson over West Davidson, R.J. Reynolds over Parkland and West Forsyth over East Forsyth.

Ed Dupree is senior sports writer of the Post.