In the closing moments of last Friday’s victory, South Rowan suffered a loss in one brief, chaotic moment.
Three yellow flags soared into the air following an attempted two-point conversion by East Rowan. The play failed, cementing the final score at 34-6 South, but two players were ejected after scuffling at the end of the play.
According to officials, South Rowan senior Anthony Rhyne punched East’s Drew Eanes — head coach Tom Eanes’ son — and Eanes exacted revenge with a blow of his own.
“They said that 44 (Rhyne) hit 16 in the back and they threw him out immediately,”Eanes said of his conversation with the officials. “When my son tried to retaliate, they ejected him. Drew did not back off.”
Because of the ejections and a subsequent write-up for fighting, both players have been suspended for one game according to state rules. Eanes, a receiver and backup quarterback, will miss Friday’s game against North Rowan.
Rhyne, the starting outside linebacker in South’s stingy defense, will miss the Raiders’ toughest test to date this season, a road battle against West Rowan.
South head coach Rick Vanhoy was disappointed with the ruling, but accepted it. He had hoped to get a better look at the play on tape, but the fracas wasn’t on film.
“The thing that’s a little bit distressing about it is Anthony may be the most quiet, nonchalant, happy-go-lucky kid we’ve got on our football team,”Vanhoy said. “I don’t think you could make him mad if you drove a nail through his foot.”
“We’ll live with it, and I know that Anthony’s learned a lesson,”Vanhoy said. “Hopefully the team learned a lesson. If there’s a positive in this — and there isn’t one — that would be the closest thing that we have.”
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Mr. defense:When listing preseason prospects for county defensive player of the year, plenty of Raiders would’ve been mentioned.
But Keith Clark?
Amazingly, Clark, a reserve defensive back, leads Rowan County with three interceptions. The senior, all 5-foot-8, 142 pounds of him, grabbed one pick in each of South’s first three games.
His first two INTs came in garbage time. But last Friday against East Rowan, star corner Ricky Childers exited the game with cramps in the early going and Clark came in.
On the next play, Clark promptly ended the Mustangs’ first series of the night by intercepting Drew Davis’ pass near midfield.
The fact that it was Clark’s third interception — tops in the county— was not lost on a tickled Vanhoy.
“Keith’s a senior, a kid that’s been with us every year,”Vanhoy said. “He ain’t no bigger than a gnat, but he works hard. He’s happened to be in the right place at the right time and I’m happy for him.
“When those kids start having success, it really helps the depth of your program,”Vanhoy added. “He’s not going to start a lot of ballgames and that’s kind of tough sometimes.”
Clark may be rewarded soon rather than later for his actions, though. With Rhyne’s suspension, Vanhoy listed Clark as a potential starter this Friday.
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PICKING THEIR SPOTS: South’s thrown the ball only 21 times in three games, but its passing game has been quietly effective.
Young QBs Andrew Morgan and Hoke Shirley have combined for four touchdown passes and zero interceptions.
After throwing for two touchdowns — one from each QB two weeks ago against Salisbury — Vanhoy said he was pleased with the balanced showing.
“We had a couple touchdown passes and that’s a little unusual for us. We’ve got to improve that game because people are going to put 10 in the box,”he said of defenses attempting to stop the running game. “They’re both good quarterbacks in their own right. We ask our quarterbacks to do a lot more than just throw passes. They have to do a lot of reading at the offensive line, call plays at the line of scrimmage. Both of them are doing a good job of that.”
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SPREADING THE WEALTH:After only three games, an amazing 15 different South Rowan Raiders have scored points.
Raiders have scored on a safety, twice on fumble returns and once on a punt return in addition to the standard means of changing the scoreboard.
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ROLLING: South has started 3-0 for the first time since 1996, a season it finished 6-5. If the Raiders can keep it going this week at West Rowan, they’ll have their first 4-0 start since 1988. They finished 7-3 that year.
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ROLLING II: South’s defense is setting the table and the Raiders’ offense is feasting. South’s scored 125 points in its first three games (41.7 ppg), the most prolific production after three games in a school history that dates back to 1961.
The previous South high was 111 points in 1978. That 111 total had an unusual breakdown, though. It included a 70-0 South romp over Mooresville (in Roger Secreast’s first game as a head coach) and a 7-0 loss to A.L. Brown.
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TOUGH DEFENSE: Meanwhile, South’s only allowed 31 points in its first three contests. That’s the fewest points allowed by the Raiders in their first three games since the 1996 team also yielded 31.
What’s most amazing about that number is that just two years ago, South’s defense had been torched for 130 points after three tilts.
Cavalier QB Alfonzo Miller’s fabulous Friday night against West Rowan (140 yards rushing and 211 yards passing for 351 yards of total offense) was the eighth-best game recorded in the county in terms of total offense and was the best of Miller’s career to date.
It was only the 18th time the 300-yard mark for total offense has been surpassed by a Rowan County player. It’s the second time Miller’s done it this season.
Fifteen of those 300-club games have come from North quarterbacks and all have taken place in the Secreast coaching era.
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MORE MILLER: Miller is averaging 304 yards of total offense per game, a staggering stat that’s even more impressive when you note that he’s played against A.L. Brown, South Rowan and West Rowan — three big schools with good defenses. It’s mind-boggling to think what’s going to happen when the Cavs start playing 2A conference foes.
If he stays healthy, Miller has a great shot at Rowan’s single-season total offense record set by North’s Mitch Ellis in 1994. Ellis rang up 3,138 yards while leading North to a 12-2 record and the third round of the playoffs.
Miller’s current pace would give him 3,344 yards for the 11-game regular season and he could do significantly more damage if North makes the state playoffs.
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MASHORE AGAIN SOLID: North tailback Thomas Mashore had another good outing last Friday, rushing 21 times for 81 yards against West. Mashore did it with only two carries of more than 10 yards and two for negative yardage. Mashore almost had a 95-yard score, but he was stopped by West’s last defender on a first-and-10 from the North 5 and settled for a 25-yard gain.
How mightily has the Hornet offense struggled?
The Hornets have gained a grand total of 200 yards in three games.
Salisbury’s offensive production trails Miller’s by 712 yards.
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CHANGE IN THE WIND:Salisbury head coach Mike Peavey has seen a number of positives on the defensive side of the ball, but hints that an offensive shakeup may take place during the current off week.
“We’ve got a very impressive quarterback and a very impressive receiver on our jayvee team,” said Peavey, after being shut out 14-0 by Robinson.
Salisbury’s jayvees defeated Robinson.
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SELF-DESTRUCTION: “Our worst enemy is ourselves,” groaned Peavey after Friday’s game. “We just keep beating ourselves.”
Salisbury’s loss to Robinson, a new school with no senior class, was painful, as it was one of the few realistic opportunities on the Hornets’ schedule to grab a victory. Conference foe West Stokes looked like a good bet to be a victim prior to the season, but West Stokes, which had never won a game, has already put two in the win column and gets to host the Hornets on Sept. 28.
The Falcons have been outrushed three straight games. That’s a turnaround which helps explain why the Falcons are off to a slow start.
Last year, West rushed for more than 200 yards in eight of its 11 regular-season games. So far this season, 124 yards is the Falcons’ top output. Part of that is the fact that West has four new O-line starters. Part of it is the absence of graduated Jonathan Diggs and injured Joe Jackson.
Conversely, the most rushing yardage West surrendered in one game during the 2000 regular season was 143 to A.L. Brown, with 80 of that coming on a Chris Carter breakaway.
So far in 2001, two teams have rambled for more than 200 ground yards on West.
The Mustang defense has given up a whopping 554 fewer yards than the 2000 Mustangs after three games. East has the county’s No. 1-ranked pass defense. Part of that is because East has faced three running teams, but part of it also reflects obvious improvement by Mustang defenders.
While the Wonders’ varsity could not stop Eastern Randolph’s amazing run of 42 consecutive regular-season wins last Friday, Brown did end an even longer streak by the ER jayvees last Thursday night in Ramseur.
The Wonder JV topped the Wildcats 23-14, halting a 47-game win streak. Josh Russell led the Wonder jayvees with 108 rushing yards and Jamil Weeks scored a pair of
TDs.
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GRAHAM CONNECTION: In the small world category, it’s interesting to note that Eastern Randolph head coach Burton Cates played for current South Rowan assistant Bob Boswell when Boswell was the head coach at Graham High School.
Cates says he’s been trying to schedule the Wonders since 1984, when Boswell was head coach at A.L. Brown.
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EARLY TESTER lost in the Western finals in 2A the past two years, so Cates figured he’d find out about his team a little earlier this season.
“We’re going to find out our strengths and weaknesses in September this year,” said Cates. “In years past, we found out our weaknesses in December and then it was too late because we’d be picking up the equipment the next Monday.”
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