Mashore does it his way at North Rowan

SPENCER —Thomas Mashore Sr., and his son share a name and a passion for football.

And even though North Rowan’s Thomas Mashore Jr., has finally followed in his father’s footsteps by becoming a running back, the two couldn’t be more different.

Just start with their running styles.

“I was a hard runner,”said Mashore’s father, who played for Roger Secreast at Salisbury High from 1981-83. “We did have different styles. I was more of an attacking runner. That’s what I’m trying to teach him.

“I was more the rugged type,” he also points out. “He’s like a mama’s boy.”

Secreast has another Mashore to coach 17 years later, but this one relies on agility and quickness.

Mashore, a senior, rushed for a game-high 91 yards and one touchdown last Friday to help the Cavaliers knock off A.L. Brown.

Two weeks ago, Mashore started against South Rowan but was limited to four carries for 7 yards. Three other tailbacks rushed for more yards than Mashore in the contest.

Secreast opened up competition for the starting position after the game, but Mashore prevailed at a Tuesday scrimmage and kept his job. His effort against the Wonders will only help secure it.

“We went through every tailback we had, and none of them were able to come to the forefront,” Secreast said about the loss to South. “We were still searching last week, and it looks like (Mashore)has come to the front.”

Secreast has been working at that task since Mashore was a freshman. Secreast wanted Mashore to play running back in each of his first two years, but his speedster resisted.

Secreast groomed Mashore to be a wideout as a freshman, and later to be a defensive back. But the Cavalier coach wasn’t pleased with his finished product.

Secreast moved Mashore — who was 6-foot, 160 pounds at the time —to safety as a sophomore. That experiment also failed.

“I guess it was a new level, a high level,” Mashore said. “All the players are bigger and faster, so I just wanted to play defense at first.”

That problem vanished before Mashore’s junior season. He grew two inches and gained 20 pounds after his sophomore season and decided to give the tailback position a try.

Mashore struggled at times last year, but now he’s enjoying a level of success similar to that of a Salisbury back in the 1980s.

Mashore’s current frame almost matches that of his father’s, who was 6-1, 188 pounds when he suited up for the Hornets.

Mashore’s father played linebacker and took that mentality into the offensive backfield, where he produced 532 yards on 117 carries as a senior during the 1983 season.

Mashore, the county champion in the 200 and 400 meters, would rather use his sprinter’s speed. But he doesn’t turn an ear to his father’s advice.

“He keeps telling me to stay down low, don’t try to run up too high,” Mashore said.“He tells me if I stay down low, there’s more pressure on a defensive player at impact.”

Mashore hopes his legs carry him to a track scholarship to Texas Christian, where he would try to walk on to the football team — probably as a wideout.

Mashore said he has made a qualifying score on the SAT, but he needs to get his grades in order.

“If I’ve got the grades, I’ll go,”Mashore said. “My grades come first.”

That, along with finishing a high school career that has taken many turns in the last four years.

The Cavaliers, who host West Rowan this Friday, are confident coming off their victory against Kannapolis.

North, thanks in part to Mashore, leads the county in both passing and rushing.

Quarterback Alfonzo Miller is running away with the total yardage mark in the county, and Secreast is happy to have a tailback there to shoulder some of the rushing burden.

“We had problems in the past until last year of not having a very good running game,”Secreast said. “It seems ironic, but we haven’t seemed to have very many tailbacks. That’s not good, because you can’t throw the ball all the time, even though we attempt to.”

The Cavaliers can rest a little easier knowing that Mashore has emerged for now.

And Mashore’s father says his best days are yet to come.

“I think he’ll be better, a lot better,” he said. “He’s got more determination than I had.”

Like father, unlike son.

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Contact Bret Strelow at 704-797-4258 or bstrelow@salisburypost.com .