BY MIKE LONDON
FOR THE SALISBURY POST

MOORESVILLE — The confrontation turned into an annihilation.

Outplayed and outmaneuvered in the first half, angry A.L. Brown burst out of the locker room and destroyed Mooresville 43-23 in a 3A North Piedmont Conference showdown for first place.

The Wonders (6-3, 4-0) reeled off 36 straight points against Mike Carter’s stunned Blue Devils during one amazing stretch of the second half.

Scoring 36 straight is something you expect Michael Jordan to do in a one-on-one outing against his out-of-shape, next-door-neighbor. It’s not something you expect to see in a contest between two of the state’s top programs.

Yet it happened.

At one point, the Wonders, winners of five straight, rampaged into the end zone three times in 200 seconds.

The main culprits came in fours. Four Mooresville fumbles in the second half — all lost to the visiting white shirts — and four TDs by sensational Wonder back Chris Carter.

Carter limped off the field wearing an ice pack on a knee, but also a wide grin, after chilling the Moors (7-2, 3-1) and running his season touchdown total to 17. The 160-pound whippet’s scoring dashes ranged from unbelievable to inconceivable.

Mooresville dominated early, punching right through the Wonder defense for touchdowns on its first two possessions.

The Blue Devils led 12-7 and were knocking on the door for yet another score and a double-digit lead late in the first quarter when the game turned around.

The U-turn happened when Chris Winford carried the ball on fourth-and-1 from the Wonder 6 and was stopped short of the first-down chains by penetrating Wonder lineman Allen Clarke.

Mooresville fans thought the Blue Devils had that vital first down, but the officials’ spot was not generous and the Wonders had possession and were still in the game.

“We missed a great scoring chance right there when we didn’t get that first down,” said Mike Carter. “That was an opportunity to get a third straight TD on them and when we didn’t get it, I thought that really, really hurt us.”

“If they score right there,” said Wonder linebacker Josh Reeves, “some guys might have put their heads down.”

Instead, the Wonder defense was heads up the rest of the night. Don’t be misled by Mooresville’s 23 points, because the Wonder defense was by far the best it’s been all year. After opening with easy scoring drives of 65 and 51 yards, Mooresville didn’t get anything else from its offense while it still mattered.

Momentum didn’t turn immediately, though. The Wonders self-destructed over the final 1:37 of the first half. After forcing a Mooresville punt, A.L. Brown committed three penalties and failed to run out the clock. Then on fourth down, punter Daniel Smith fumbled the snap and was buried at the Wonder 11 with 1.2 seconds showing on the clock.

Mooresville capitalized with a Doug Haneline field goal for a 15-7 lead, but essentially that was the final Blue Devil highlight.

Still, Mooresville appeared to be in great shape as that first half ended.

“What I told our guys was that they should feel real fortunate at that point,” said Massey. “We’d played about as bad a first half as we had played in five or six weeks and we were only down 15-7.”

“We did feel lucky,” said Wonder QB Drew Maher, who was simply Maher-velous for the fourth straight week. “It was cold and windy and we hadn’t been anywhere near our best, but we were still close.”

The Wonder defense went out and stopped Mooresville’s first possession of the second half cold, giving the offense the lift it needed.

“We didn’t do anything that different in the second half,” said Wonder defensive coordinator Aubrey Hollifield. “Just stopped busting assignments and started executing better.”

The Wonders got field position when Mooresville’s punt traveled just 6 yards. And then the Wonders moved 54 yards in a hurry to score.

Carter got the TD, zipping to the corner, then down the sideline to cut the Wonders’ deficit to 15-13. The game was tied moments later when Maher found Touché Allison for a 2-point conversion.

From that point, the Wonders, whose only first half score had come on a magical individual effort by Carter who reversed his field and covered perhaps 150 yards on a 54-yard score, were awesome.

Mooresvile fumbled and Reeves pounced on it. Then the Blue Devils fumbled again and Clarke fell on it to set up a Carter TD with 2:57 left in the third quarter. That one gave the Wonders a 22-15 lead.

Then Mooresville star Chris Winford (99 yards) fumbled the ensuing kickoff to set up the backbreaker. It came when Maher hit Allison over the middle 5 yards downfield. Then when a cluster of Devils came at him, Allison, as planned, shoveled the ball to Carter, all alone and streaking down the far sideline. That 40-yard scoring crowd-pleaser made it 29-15.

“Hey, Touché’s a basketball player,” said Chris Carter. “So you’ve got to give him an assist.”

Wonder fullback Rock Johnson romped into the end zone untouched from 28 yards out early in the fourth quarter. That made it 36-15 and the issue was no longer in doubt.

“We just made a lot of mistakes in the second half,” sighed Mike Carter. “We had bad turnovers at unfortunate times and you can’t do that against Kannapolis. They’re too good for that. Give them credit. They played well.”

Contact Mike London at 704-797-4259 or mlondon@salisburypost.com .