BY STEVE HANF
FOR THE SALISBURY POST

WALLBURG — With a sweeping wave of his arm, North Rowan quarterback Alfonzo Miller gestured to the Ledford postgame huddle and shook his head.

“I’m proud of ’em,” Miller said of the Panthers. “They came out and played their hardest. They were something else.”

Ledford’s defense silenced Miller and the explosive Cavalier offense in a 17-12 decision Friday night. The homecoming win gave the Panthers the inside track to the 2A Central Carolina Conference crown with just two weeks remaining in the season.

Ledford, now 5-0 in the CCC and 7-2 overall, needs only a win against West Iredell or Salisbury — a combined 3-15 — to clinch the crown. North, 7-2, 4-1, must beat either Central or East Davidson (a combined 6-12) to earn the CCC’s second and final playoff berth.

Last year, North traveled to Ledford and pulled out a 26-22 upset to take the title. When the Panthers returned the favor last night, they snapped North’s 12-game winning streak in the league that dated back to 1999.

“We weren’t prepared for them and they beat us,” North head coach Roger Secreast said simply. “I was worried about them — had every right to be worried. We got beat by a good football team.”

Ledford’s defense tripped up the Cavaliers with different formations, aggressive linebackers and a pass rush that just wouldn’t stop. Miller hit his season average of 266 total yards per game on the nose (he finished with 265, actually: 192 in the air and 73 rushing), but he had to work for every single one of them.

“They had good defensive ends who covered the outside,” Miller said. “They wouldn’t let me get that (quarterback) sneak like I really wanted. They read our plays, what we were doing.”

Ledford took away North’s short passing game and inside runs by stacking the line of scrimmage. And the Panthers’ secondary made few mistakes.

“We tried to give him different looks,” Ledford head coach Gil Maxwell said. “When you have an offense like that, you can’t give them the same thing or they’ll get comfortable and pick you apart.”

Ledford’s defense never proved itself more than in the final minute of the first half in what appeared to be the turning point of Friday’s clash.

With a minute left and North leading 6-3, Maxwell called for a fake punt with his quarterback/kicker ready to receive the snap on the Ledford 35-yard line. As Doug Fowler dropped back and started looking for room to run, a swarm of Cavaliers met him. Fowler couldn’t throw it, couldn’t kick it — and finally went down on his own 24-yard line.

Miller trotted onto the field with 69 seconds to go and fired incomplete, under heavy pressure, on his first three passes. On fourth down Miller lofted a deep ball to James House in the back of the end zone that glanced off the big tight end’s fingers.

“We get the ball in the end zone, we have a chance to win the football game,” Secreast said. “That was a good opportunity. Defensively we played pretty good. We had a bad offense tonight.”

The North defense finally broke in the third quarter. Ledford faced third-and-4 from its own 37 when Fowler dropped back, pumped once and fired a long ball down the right sideline. He hit a wide open Josh Massey in stride for a 57-yard gain, and star Panther back Brennan Duncan powered in from 6 yards out two plays later for a 10-6 lead.

“The key was us being able to take the opening drive down for a score and get a little bit of momentum,” Maxwell said. “We really felt like once we got the lead, our defense was playing well enough that it didn’t matter if it was 1, 10 or whatever, the defense would stop them.”

North went three-and-out on its next series, then marched down the field after a Ledford fumble. Every time the Cav QB dropped back to pass, though, a horde of Ledford lineman broke through and forced him to scramble.

“We got beat physically up front. The offensive line just got beat,” Secreast said. “He’s got to have a little bit of time to be able to do something.”

As the third quarter came to a close, Miller found himself in striking range. A perfect slant pass to Jeremiah Cauthen on first-and-goal went through the receiver’s hands and bounced harmlessly into the end zone. On second down, Miller eluded a heavy pass rush, rolled to his right and threw an off-balance pass into the arms of Ledford linebacker Adam Disher.

After a great Fowler punt, North got the ball on the 6-yard line and soon faced fourth-and-4 on the 24 with 5:25 left. Instead of punting, Miller tried to pass, had to scramble and went out of bounds just shy of the first-down marker. Ledford took over and powered in for a 17-6 lead on four Duncan runs.

Three minutes remained on the clock, and North’s offense went back to work. On the Cavs’ first play, Miller fired a beautiful spiral to Lamar Geter at midfield. The potential 87-yard TD strike — Geter was two steps ahead of the defense, running at full speed — glanced off his hands, and by the time North finally scored on a 20-yard Miller-to-House connection, less than a minute remained.

Ledford recovered the ensuing onsides kick. North’s night was over.

“We will never — never — play this bad from now on,” House said emphatically. “You can quote me on that.”

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Contact Steve Hanf at 704-797-4287 or shanf@salisburypost.com .