LANDIS — Quick question. Who’s got the best defense in Rowan county?

Gotta be West Rowan, right?

Nope. Try again.

Okay, then it’s Salisbury.

Sorry.

Give up? The correct answer four weeks into the 2000 season is South Rowan. That’s right — stop the presses and find the smelling salts— South Rowan.

The once-porous Raiders (3-1 — their best start since ‘96) have been extremely difficult to run against and reasonably difficult to pass against. They’re giving up only 163 yards per game — 60 fewer than West, 75 fewer than Salisbury.

And before you say, well, maybe they haven’t played anybody yet, save your breath.

South already has taken on A.L. Brown and West, who are as good as anyone in the area. It’s also held down a Salisbury team good enough to beat Albemarle and Concord and an East team which doesn’t have much trouble moving the ball.

How tough are the Raiders to run on? West’s Jonathan Diggs averages 6.8 yards per carry against the rest of the world — just 2.8 against South.

A.L. Brown’s Eric Caldwell has 232 yards on 24 carries in two games against people other than South. Against the Raiders, he gained 19 painful yards in 11 cracks.

The numbers are eye-popping. Against the same four opponents that it opened the season with in ‘99, the 2000 edition of the Raiders has allowed 120 fewer yards per game. And more importantly — 15.6 fewer points per game.

Friday night, as you’ve probably heard by now, South actually won a football game in which it scored only 12 points. That’s news. The Raiders had not scored so few points and still managed to win since early in the 1989 season when they took back-to-back defensive struggles from West Rowan (7-0) and Northwest Cabarrus (8-2).

The logical question is why has a team that couldn’t stop anyone, suddenly started stopping just about everyone.

Part of it is coaching. The addition to the staff of Bob Boswell’s expertise and the installation of his familiar “Shade 50” defense that turned A.L. Brown into a football power in the late ‘70s has been a factor.

But an even bigger factor is that South finally has the athletes to attack, rather than just react.

And, boy, has it been awhile.

“Last year we had to play slow,” said a South assistant coach. “Two years ago, we had to play dead. We were so slow it was a death sentence.

“Believe me, this is a whole lot more fun.”

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A few of the names on the South defense, you may know. People like All-Rowan County corner Ricky Childers, who doubles as a quarterback. Or “Thunder and Lightning” linebackers Joel Reyes and Jay Phillips.

But the best South player you haven’t heard about is 6-foot-5, 240-pound senior defensive end Randy Rigsby.

Rigsby’s size, wingspan and 4.9 speed made him a terror at Salisbury on Friday. More than once, he carried a helpless Hornet blocker right back into quarterback Jerry Miller, as he tried to throw.

“What Randy did on Friday was what he’s done all year,” said South head coach Rick Vanhoy. “We thought he’d have a tremendous senior year because he finished so strong last year. Well, he’s having it.

“Randy’s our 5-technique guy and you can’t run the Shade 50 without a good one. He’s a huge part of our success.”

“He’s quiet, but he’s become a leader by example,” added defensive ends coach Travis Billings. “He has good technique and he gets after it hard. He hasn’t had a bad game yet.”

The scouting report on Rigsby is that he’s a mild-mannered guy off the field, but like his hero Lawrence Taylor — he can transform into a beast on it.

“Don’t push Randy over the line,” warned South defensive line coach Tim Corriher. “He’s slow to anger, but he can get nasty. And there’s nothing wrong with being a little nasty on that side of the ball.”

Ironically, there almost was no need for a scouting report on Rigsby. He suffered an awful injury in the ninth grade that came close to ending his career before it started.

“I was on the offensive line and didn’t really know what I was doing,” recalled Rigsby. “I had my head down on a block in practice and speared my teammate Brad Mulkey. I suffered a concussion and pulled every muscle I had in my neck.”

When football rolled around his sophomore year, Rigsby thought about the pain in his neck and decided to stay in the stands.

But then came his junior year.

“One of our goals for ‘99 was to get all the athletes in this school on the field,” said Vanhoy. “Randy was a priority.”

Rigsby didn’t need any coaxing. He was already planning a comeback.

“I should have played my sophomore year,” he said. “The coaches didn’t have to say a whole lot to me. I was ready to get back into football.”

He made an impact. He was a force down the stretch as South beat all three Forsyth County schools for the first time ever to shock the world and crash the 4A state playoffs for the first time in five years.

“Randy’s been even better this year,” said Corriher. “More disciplined, more mature. Last year, he free-lanced a lot. This year he’s done exactly what we’ve asked. His reads have been just about perfect.”

Rigsby is similar in height and appearance to former South star Jeff Kerr, who went on to star at East Carolina and is now on the Cleveland Browns developmental squad. But none of the South coaches are willing to compare them —at least not yet.

“Randy doesn’t remind me of anyone we’ve had,” said Vanhoy. “He’s just Randy. But that’s pretty good. Being Randy is exactly what we want him to be.”