BY DAVID SHAW
SALISBURY POST

CHARLOTTE — South Rowan ran into a giant Friday night, but it wasn’t as fortunate as David was against Goliath.

The Raiders tried using a just-add-water recipe against host East Mecklenburg but were felled in the second round of the state 4A playoffs.

“This wasn’t supposed to end this way,” rain-soaked Brad Lanning said after South dropped a 20-15 decision and excused itself from postseason play. “There just isn’t much to talk about.”

On the contrary. South (8-5) completed a truly wonderful season with a truly wonderful performance against the 12-1 Eagles, who advanced to next week’s third-round match at A.C. Reynolds.

“I thought our kids played hard,” South coach Rick Vanhoy said with his aw-shucks demeanor. “Golly, we did a great job. Our kids gave a great effort from start to finish.”

The game’s brightest star wore no. 10 for East Meck. Quarterback Marshall Glenn proved too much to handle, passing for 205 yards and a pair of first-half touchdowns and rushing for 72 yards and a decisive third-quarter score.

“Glenn’s for real,” said Vanhoy. “I thought he should have been a Shrine Bowl quarterback. Good gracious, if there’s a better one than him around here I’m glad we don’t have to play against him anytime soon.”

Down in the trenches, South lineman William Van Wieren said that Glenn “kept us guessing,” and added: “We’d chase him one way and he’d make something happen. We’d chase him the other way and it was the same thing. He was dangerous when he got outside.”

Only problem, South’s defense never made Glenn pay any out-of-pocket expenses. He was often pressured but never sacked and wound up completing 17 passes to six different receivers.

But before Glenn had a chance to shine, the Raiders did. They took an 8-0 lead on their first possession, an eight-play, 62-yard drive capped by Jay Phillips’ 10-yard TD run.

“The momentum was with us,” said offensive lineman Scott Moyer. “We stayed with our blocks, we ran hard and we did everything we were supposed to do.”

Included in the drive were four plays that gained at least 10 yards — a pair of Andrew Morgan completions to wideout Brandan Yow, Brent Dendy’s 15-yard scamper to the East 16 and Phillips’ straight-up-the-middle touchdown run. “But after that,” Moyer explained, “we just let up. That’s something we’ve got to work on.”

Indeed. South never matched its opening-drive efficiency, netting only another 61 yards as field conditions steadily worsened. South was limited to 21 total yards in the second half and failed to advance deeper than the East 37. “I’m not sure why we stopped executing,” said Vanhoy.

It’s something they’ll have the next eight months to think about. In the meantime, Glenn and the Eagles went to work on South’s heralded defense, navigating 52 yards for a touchdown late in the first quarter to draw within 8-6. Then with 10:46 remaining in the second period, Glenn hit Edsel Logan with 20-yard TD pass — completing an 87-yard drive — and ran for a two-point conversion, giving the hosts a 14-8 lead.

Then, in the midst of another textbook scoring drive, Glenn made an errant throw and was intercepted by Lanning, who returned it 70 yards down the right sideline before being wrestled to the turf just 10 yards short of the end zone.

“Lanning has had a great season,” said Vanhoy. “When he looks back at his senior year, he’ll be able to talk about what a great year it was. And he finished it off.”

One snap later, South’s Ted Thomas carried the ball in for a 15-14 lead midway through the second quarter. It provided little consolation to Lanning. “Whatever I did, it wasn’t enough,” he said afterward.

Lanning and his defensive mates had their hands full in the second half. First East Meck put together a 63-yard scoring drive and regained the lead on Glenn’s 8-yard run with 4:39 left in the third period. Then in the fourth the Eagles held the ball for 21 consecutive plays, shaving more than 10 minutes off the clock while South burned its final two timeouts. Three times East converted fourth-down plays, and though the drive ended with a missed field goal attempt, South was left with only 65 seconds to work with when it began its final possession.

“They’re a good football team and they did what good teams do — control the ball,” said Vanhoy. “But we helped them with some penalties. That keeps drives alive. That’s the unfortunate thing. You have them stopped and then all of a sudden you look out there and there’s the yellow flag. That was very frustrating.

“They’ve got a good offense with a good quarterback,” Vanhoy continued. “They don’t try to score on every play. They just hunt and peck their way down the field. And they have all these offensive sets. Sometimes they send five and six people out and it’s just hard to cover everybody.”

South’s season-ending drive included two more penalties and two sacks, the last as time expired. When the curtain had dropped, Vanhoy thanked his team for making every Friday a thrill and shared a special moment with his 28 seniors.

“I’m gonna miss them the most,” he said. “When they came to the program we were 2-9 and 2-9 in back-to-back seasons. They brought this program back and made winners out of us. I’m proud of them for that.”

It’s a program Moyer proudly returns to next fall. “This was one of the best teams South Rowan has ever had,” he said. “We’re sad it had to end, but we know we accomplished a lot this year.”

n

Contact David Shaw at sports@salisburypost.com .