|
SPENCER — North Rowan quarterback Graham Hosch let out a sigh, shook his head and gave his honest assessment of his Cavaliers’ wild 35-28 loss to unbeaten A.L. Brown, the state’s second-ranked 3A team, on Friday night at Eagle Stadium.
“We get the ball back one more time and we win,” said Hosch. “Yeah, Kannapolis is a good team, but we win this game.”
Hosch naturally sees things through Cavalier-green tinted glasses, but he had some evidence to support his case. The Cavs were buried twice — once in each half — but both times they came storming back close enough to keep an overflow crowd screaming until the final minute.
“I’m just really proud of my kids,” said North coach Roger Secreast, who has only beaten the Wonders twice in his long tenure. “We played well — our defense really played well — and Hosch, he’s just a remarkable young man for a first-year quarterback.”
It was a wild night with the sensational, long-limbed Hosch firing for 332 yards — 208 of them in the first half — and with balls and bodies bouncing and skittering all over the turf.
There were six turnovers — two on one incredible play — plus a blocked punt for a TD and a messed-up punt that led to a TD.
North (1-3), as expected, created most of the excitement by running the ball by design only three times and putting it in the air 48.
“North’s a really good team,” complimented Wonder coach Ron Massey. “They have the athletes to match up with anyone. We saw ‘em on film and they played with (4A) Scotland County last week. And they played with us this week.
“We were just fortunate to make a few more big plays.”
The biggest play, as usual, came from Wonders senior strong safety Jason Brown.
Dre Byrd caught a Hosch pass in front of Brown and tried to spin away early in the second quarter, but Brown slapped the ball free, gathered it in on the run and sprinted 35 yards to the end zone.
“Dre was just carrying the ball way out there,” said Brown, doing his best impression of a loaf of bread. “We needed that play because Hosch was putting a lot of pressure on our defense.”
Brown’s play gave the Wonders two touchdowns in a span of only seven seconds, a 21-7 lead and control of the game. Massey’s team never quite lost that control, but it teetered on the edge a few times.
The Cavs actually struck first. Miller, who finished with 143 receiving yards, yanked down a 45-yarder over the head of DeAngelo Collins to move the ball to the Wonder 12. From there, Hosch found Byrd on a slant, and he danced past several Wonders for a score.
The Cavs likely had their best opportunity to win the game in the next few minutes, as the slow-starting Wonders put the ball on the deck for them a couple of times. But twice the Wonders were able to fall on their own fumbles.
A surprisingly staunch North defense led by Marcus Lawing, Aaron Young and Jacques Taylor kept the Wonders off the board until late in the first quarter when Chris Carter turned the corner on a 25-yard sprint to tie the game at 7-7.
A short Cav punt then set up a 55-yard Wonder scoring surge that Duran Lipscomb capped with a 1-yard bullrush into paydirt. That TD was followed immediately by Brown’s big fumble return.
And that gave the Cavs their first chance to fold.
They didn’t.
A scintillating punt return by an eager-for-redemption Byrd set the table for a 21-yard scoring run by Hosch, who scrambled right, then cut back left past diving Wonder defenders to cut North’s deficit to 21-14 with 3:26 left in the first half.
That stunning play, in turn, rejuvenated the Cavs’ defense, which stopped the Wonders several times. The half ended with a missed Rush Rollins field goal that sent the Cavs to the locker room, punching the air and with the home side of the packed stands roaring approval.
But the Wonders regrouped at halftime. Massey and his staff made adjustments, with the most obvious one being a wider and more intense pass rush from twin terrors Gerrell McCrae and Lee Basinger.
“We did change some stunts,” said Basinger, “but mostly we just played harder in the second half. We got after it more.”
Basinger smacked Hosch and grabbed his fumble on North’s first play from scrimmage in the second half.
The Wonder offense took advantage of the turnover with a 30-yard push for a score. Brown got the touchdown, dragging a trio of Cavs over the goal line.
On North’s next possession, a possessed Basinger batted down a pass and then smashed into Hosch to force an incompletion. Then when North tried to punt out of trouble on fourth down, Kevin Rutherford bobbled the snap and was pounced on by McCrae to give the Wonders possession at the North 29.
“Mistakes and turnovers are what it came down to,” said Secreast. “You might beat a team like Kannapolis making one or two turnovers — but not three or four.”
Another easy touchdown followed the failed punting attempt. That made it 35-14 Wonders, and it looked to be all over.
But once more, the Cavs climbed off the deck.
Hosch hadn’t touched the ball much in the second half, but with 7:58 left to play, he ducked a big rush by Basinger and fired downfield. Somehow, Miller made the grab, beating Collins for a 51-yard touchdown.
“I threw that one and I just knew it was an interception,” said Hosch. “But sometimes I throw it up and our great receivers will come down with it.”
Byrd scampered in for a two-point conversion to make it 35-22
Still, it looked like the Wonders would cruise to the finish line, as the Wonder offensive line and back Dale King banged out repeated first downs to keep the clock moving.
But the Wonders (4-0) bogged down and the Cavs forced the sixth punt of the night from a team that had punted only four times all year. Then, North’s Aundray Russell broke through and blocked it. Lawing scooped the ball up in stride and carried it for six points to make it 35-28 at the 2:31 mark. And fans, who had begun to file out, started scrambling to re-find their seats.
“Russell was close all night to getting one,” said Lawing. “He finally did and I was there.”
But an onsides kick failed, and the Wonders, using the stocky King as a battering ram, were able to run out the final minute and escape as Hosch looked on helplessly.
“We’ve gotta get better,” Massey said. “But it was a game that should help us. It should help North too.”
Secreast agreed.
“The kids did everything we could have asked,” he said. “They’re getting better. We’ve just gotta keep our heads up and get ready for conference next week.”
|
Today's News