INDIAN TRAIL—AL Brown’s football team wasted no time reving its engines Friday night.

The wonders achieved instant lift off in their SPC opener at Sun Valley, scoring touch towns on each of their first four posessions and 7 of 9 all together.

“We’ve been thinking about this all week,” Coach Ron Massey said after Kannapolis rolled to a 48-7 victory. “It’s important to get out quick in the confernece. If you lose that first one and get behind the eight-ball, you’ll be playing catch-up all year.”

Not to worry. The wonders (3-0) amassed 492 yards total offense, including 372 on the ground, and dismissed the host Spartans (1-2) in machine-like fashion.

“The hardest part about this game was staying focused after we got the lead,” Quarter back Josh Lee said after passing for 83 yard in a third-quarter touch down to Eric Caldwell. “We’ve been building each week and we didn’t want to lose any ground.”

Kannapolis’ top gainer was Caldwell, the 6-1 senior tailback who rebounded nicely from a dismal performance in last week’s win over Sout Rowan. He sliced and diced his way for 148 yards rushing and his second, third and fourth touch down of the season.

“This made up for last week,” said Caldwell, reflecting on his 11-carry/19-yard debacle. “That just wasn’t my game. Tonight I concentrated on running hard. It was none-stop running.”

When Caldwell wasn’t knifing through Sun Valley’s secondary, he was finding seems between its defenders. He added three past receptions for 53 yards, giving him more than 200 yards total offense.

“I know why this happened,” he said before boarding the team’s chartered bus. “I was thinking about my cousin, Lamar Caldwell, who drowned last June. He’s always been an influence for me. His goal was for me to play good every game. I felt like I let him down last week.”

Caldwell quickly attoned for any past shortcomings when he took a pitchout from Lee and plowed into the end zone from 15 yard out before the game was 4 minutes old. He also closed the scoring when he capped an 80-yard drive with a 3-yard burst early in the fourth quarter.

“I thought all the running backs ran well,” said Massey. “But that starts with the offensive line. They executed really well, and I think Eric and the other guys recognize that those guys jelled real well and didn’t have a lot of breakdowns.”

By the third quarter Kannapolis turned this codrial sit down into an all-you-can-eat buffet. The wonders padded a 28-7 half-time lead on Caldwell’s PD catch and teammate Dale King’s second score—a 20-yard gallop throught the gut and down the left side line.

“Our game plan was to run outside,” said Lee. “And their backers were blitzing like every play. We essentially just ran away from their pursuit.”

Even with second stringers on the field, the wonders were no match for Sun Valley. The triumph was their 27th straight in the regular season and 18 straight in conference play.

“Coach told us if we don’t come smashing ‘em in the mouth, we’re gonna come up disappointed,” said linebacker/running back Duran Lispcomb. “We didn’t want that. We clicked tonight. We played together, we worked as a team, we played our game.”