BY DAVID SHAW
SALISBURY POST

All victories are not created equal.

Take West Rowan’s 39-9 drubbing of host Salisbury on Friday night. The way Falcons’ coach Scott Young saw it, this was nothing to pound your chest over.

“I thought we played ugly,” he said after West (3-2) earned its second consecutive win. “Offensively we were very inconsistent. We had a lot of penalties and made a lot of mistakes. We really didn’t look too sharp out there.”

Throw in a postgame episode in which Young and Salisbury special teams coach John Russ engaged in a brief shoving match, and you can understand Young’s reluctance to stick around. “I just want to get my team on the bus and go,” he said.

The trouble stemmed from a couple of roughing the kicker penalties against West in the first half, the second of which temporarily knocked Salisbury punter Matt Russ — the coach’s son and a former West player — out of the game.

“It had nothing to do with Matt Russ,” said Young. “I admire him and feel he’s gotten so much better since last year.”

Young said he watched three Salisbury punters warm up and decided before kickoff to call a punt block regardless of who received the snap.

“It was an unfortunate incident,” he added. “We called a punt block and our kids ran into him. If it were intentional, I apologize on my behalf and my team’s behalf. The sad thing is, it was not intentional. On the second one I specifically told our kids, ‘Don’t run into him.’ ”

Salisbury coach Mike Peavey had to wonder. “I just thought it was weird that as soon as Matt went out, they quit rushing the punter,” he said. “And the second punter (Stephen Davis) was so slow getting it off and kicking it low. They could have blocked him any time they wanted.”

Enough of that. That game itself provided few surprises other than Salisbury grabbing a 6-0 lead midway through the first quarter. The scoring drive, if you can call it that, began when Teriq Bronson recovered a fumble on the West 2-yard line. Three blasts up the middle later, Vincent Brown reached the end zone.

“We never expected that,” said West linebacker Kendall High. “I don’t think we were ready. We weren’t serious enough on the bus ride over here. That woke us up.”

Salisbury’s lead, as it turned out, was short-lived. On the next play from scrimmage, West’s LaGrande Andrews Roto-Rootered his way through the middle and down the left sideline on a 79-yard touchdown run.

The Falcons added two more TDs in the next four minutes — both on gallops by Ben Hampton — and led 21-6 after one quarter.

“He has a lot going for him,” said Peavey of Hampton. “He’s a big kid. He’s strong. And he has better speed than I think people give him credit for. He’s really a quality running back and a quality kid.”

Hampton, who rushed for 96 yards and scored his sixth, seventh and eighth touchdowns of the season, was a pound sign in the backfield — frequently dragging defenders several yards on his back.

“The line gave me some nice holes,” he said. “And I just hit them. I’m not the type of back whose gonna juke guys. I’d rather run into them than around them.”

West extended its lead to 27-6 at the half when quarterback Hillary Gbumblee directed a seven-play, 70-yard TD drive midway through the second period. Andrews, who punctured Salisbury’s defense for 109 yards rushing on seven carries, scored for the second time on a 4-yard plunge with 6:09 on the clock.

“I think it took us a while to get going,” said Hampton. “We weren’t fired up in the beginning. But once we got on the field and got the lead, it was nothing but hard-nosed football.”

For the most part, the Falcons treated Salisbury like a rec league team. They rushed for more than 200 yards and kept their foot on the gas pedal in the third quarter following a must-be-a-misprint 2-yard punt by Hornets’ backup Davis. West drove 36 yards for another score — this time with senior Gary Scott in the pilot’s seat — and led 34-6 when Hampton crossed on a 1-yard run.

“We have got to make people put together sustained drives against us,” said Peavey. “We’re not doing that right now. We’re giving up big plays and making it easy for them. Big plays are killing us.”

Salisbury’s highlight reel included at least two significant plays — a 47-yard halfback option completion from Andre Bruce to Patrick Doleman early in the game; and Amber Wingerson’s second career field goal, a 30-yarder late in the third quarter.

“She works every day in practice,” said Peavey. “She prepares. She gets herself ready mentally and in the games, it shows.”

It showed for the Falcons, too. They closed the scoring in the fourth-quarter. First High cleanly blocked a punt into the end zone, where a Salisbury player downed the ball for a safety; and later, senior Steven Messeroll kicked a 42-yard field goal.

Afterward, Young seemed focused on the Falcons’ shortcomings — they turned the ball over twice and were penalized seven times for 94 yards. But he made a point to applaud Salisbury’s effort.

“I cannot give them enough credit for playing us as hard as they did for the whole game,” he said. “They never gave up.”

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NOTES: High’s night’s work included a blocked field goal, a blocked punt and a fumble recovery. … Besides Bronson, Salisbury got a third-quarter fumble recovery by Joseph Walker.

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Contact David Shaw at sports@salisburypost.com .