SPENCER— Alfonzo Miller sat back in the pocket searching far and wide for a receiver.
The North Rowan quarterback had so long to throw the ball, radio announcer Wilson Cherry proclaimed the Secret Service must be guarding Miller.
Those folks are busy elsewhere, though. It was just Cavalier linemen Ben Motley, Mack Ellis, Ronald Foxx, Jason Barber and Alex Gordon doing their usual job.
After an eternity of time cycling through his possible targets, Miller finally decided to take off. Salisbury’s defensive end appeared poised to make a tackle, but Miller turned the corner.
Four Hornets rushed up from the goal line, ready to make the hit. Miller accelerated through two of them, crashed into another pair at the goal line and hopped up in the end zone.
The score was just one of six North touchdowns in a 43-0 victory, but certainly qualified for the most impressive play of the game.
“He’s incredible,”North head coach Roger Secreast said. “People ask me, ‘How fast is
Alfonzo?’ We don’t know. We don’t run 40s here. We don’t time 40s. All I know is he’s as fast as he needs to be. I can’t explain it.”
Neither could Miller, who went from fast to faster to fastest in the span of his 20-yard dash to the end zone.
“I just felt like I had to rush through there for some reason,”he said.
Miller ran for two touchdowns and threw for another in the clash of neighboring 2A Central Carolina Conference teams. Miller finished with 86 yards rushing and 127 through the air.
Senior Thomas Mashore Jr. came through with the best running night. He also had three touchdowns, finishing with 97 yards on 16 carries.
Neither Mashore nor Miller ran the ball in the second half thanks to a 36-point outburst in the opening 24 minutes.
North (6-1 overall, 3-0 CCC) took the opening kickoff 64 yards on nine plays. All nine were runs — although one was a lateral toss from Miller to Lamar Geter— as Salisbury refused to let Miller’s arm do the damage.
Instead, Miller sneaked in from the 1 for his first TD.
“In this offense, you do what the defense lets you do. It’s either fast or it’s slow, but it still moves the football,”said a disappointed
Secreast, who loves the passing game but has seen teams try to take it away in recent weeks. “Somebody’s gonna have to let us throw the football some time. They’re forcing us to run the football. I don’t like it.”
Miller can handle it, though, and Mashore certainly didn’t mind the carries. Mashore tallied North’s next three touchdowns, scoring from 8 yards out to end the first quarter and from 3 and 9 yards away in the second period.
He enjoyed huge holes up front on his first score, and when the middle clogged up, tight end James House and Geter at wide receiver sealed off the defensive ends and allowed Mashore to stroll into the end zone.
“I have to thank the offensive line and wide receivers for all the blocking they gave downfield,”Mashore said. “It was great blocking all night.”
Salisbury’s offense looked its best on the first drive of the game. Quarterback Brian Roten hit Andre Bruce on passes of 11 and 14 yards for a pair of first downs, but the drive stalled short of midfield and the Hornets sent away their first of five punts.
The only other Hornet first down of the first half came off a roughing the punter penalty. Through the first 24 minutes, Salisbury (0-7, 0-3) totaled 38 yards of offense.
Much of the credit went to returning starter Marcus Hayes, who missed last week with an injured knee. He helped dominate play up front, while linebacker Jon Lomax enjoyed a big game, too. He intercepted a deflected pass in the first half and later emerged from a pile of Hornets with a fumble, returning it 80 yards only to see a meaningless clip wipe his score off the board.
That penalty was one of six called in the chippy second half, which was shortened to 10-minute quarters with a running clock most of the way.
“Everybody losing their composure … said Mashore, his voice trailing off. “I was ready for the game to be over.”
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NOTES: How short was the second half?North ran just 11 plays (for 41 yards) in the final quarters and Salisbury ran 17 plays for 27 yards. … Cav Jeremiah Cauthen had a big night, catching five passes for 89 yards. … Hornet Titus Vinson recovered a Miller fumble at the goal line in the first quarter, one of few North mistakes made all night. … Former North star Marcus Reddick was taking in the game. He’s attending East Carolina.
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Contact Steve Hanf at 704-797-4287 or shanf@salisburypost.com
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