By Mike London

mike.london@salisburypost.com

Prep Football Notebook …

North Rowan senior defensive end Jake Pritchard had nine sacks as a junior and picked up where he left off in Friday’s 24-20 opening-night win at East Rowan.
Pritchard accounted for two of the Cavaliers’ three sacks. He also forced a fumble that was recovered by tackle Terry Cathcart.
North’s other sack was recorded by sophomore Darren Williams.
•
X-MAN: Sophomore Xavier Haley is the county’s surprise rushing leader after Week 1. He put up 147 rushing yards against East.
Haley, who had 22 carries, could emerge as the workhorse for the Cavaliers, although North showed off an army of hard-working, young backs on opening night and got touchdowns from sophomore Jaleel Webster and junior Malik Alford.
•
CATCH OF THE DAY: A.J. Shields soared to make a one-handed catch for 21 yards and helped set up a North touchdown.
Known more for his work on the basketball court, Shields has been a pleasant surprise after coming out for the football team.
•
STREAKS: North won its fourth straight opener and won for the fifth time in a row against the Mustangs. Since losing, 29-21, against West Rowan in 2012 — the last time the Cavaliers played the Falcons — North is 7-0 against Rowan County foes.

Salisbury
Senior cornerback Shaquez Strickland made “Special Teams Player of the Week” an easy call for the SHS coaching staff by returning a punt 70 yards for a touchdown in a 35-20 win against South Rowan.
Offensive Player of the Week for the Hornets was a more difficult decision as senior backs Willie Clark and Antwond Glenn posted identical rushing numbers. Both had 13 carries for 94 yards and a touchdown. Glenn got the nod this time, but it could be Clark next week.
•
GETTING HIS KICKS: Prior to the season, Salisbury head coach Ryan Crowder expected to borrow a soccer player to handle kicking duties, but offensive lineman Matt Woolly stepped forward on Friday and was 5-for-5 on extra points.
•
SHOUTOUTS: Salisbury had dominating line performances against South. Defensive end Naquay Simpson had three sacks, while offensive lineman Marquese Peele pancaked several Raiders. Linebacker DJ Alexander had five sacks last week (see related story on page 1C).
•
WALL OF FAME ADDITIONS: Three former coaches at Knox Junior High, now Knox Middle School, were recognized as “Salisbury Coaching Legends” on Friday. Bill Cansler, Jane Smith-Steinberg, and Mel Harris were inducted. All three arrived at Knox during the 1966-1967 school year. They coached for a combined 70 years at Knox.

East Rowan
There were plenty of positives on offense for the Mustangs in the loss to North.
Junior Tate Houpe, making his first varsity start, threw for 196 yards and two touchdowns in three quarters of action and is the county’s leading passer.
Houpe sustained a shoulder injury late in the third quarter on a two-point conversion try after his touchdown pass provided a 20-17 lead. His status for Friday’s game with Salisbury is uncertain. He’s also East’s punter and placekicker, so is health is critical to the Mustangs’ hopes.
•
NO WALLFLOWER: There are coaches who believe East junior Max Wall is the county’s best athlete and he did nothing on Friday to change anyone’s mind. Wall accumulated 96 rushing yards, 56 passing yards and 43 receiving yards and always can be counted on for major return yards.
“But after Tate got hurt, Max wore down a little bit,” East Rowan coach Kenneth McClamrock said.
The East career rushing record set by Cal Hayes Jr. from 1998-2001 is 2,698 yards, a relatively modest total that ranks 20th on the all-time county list.
If he stays healthy, Wall could be the guy to break Hayes’ mark. He already has 1,643 career rushing yards.
•
CATCHING ON: Naquis Caldwell had the county’s biggest receiving effort on opening night when he caught five balls for 125 yards and two scores.
Caldwell was a 500-yard receiver as a junior, so his performance wasn’t a shock.
The surprise in East’s passing game was junior receiver Steven Hardin, who had six catches for 84 yards.
Hardin had four varsity catches all last season, including three in the playoff win against Freedom.

South Rowan
THREE AT A TIME: Brennan Lambert’s 50-yard field goal against Salisbury on Friday was the fifth of 50 or more yards by a Rowan kicker and the first since Lucas Soares connected on a 51-yarder for South in 2007. Soares’ kick came against A.L. Brown and broke the school record.
Lambert kicked two field goals against the Hornets and also kicked two against Carson last season in a memorable game in which he scored all 13 of South’s points. South had not had a kicker boot two field goals in a single night since Devin Beaver accomplished the feat against Salisbury in 2004.
The all-time kicking king at South Rowan probably is Robby Basinger, who booted 10 field goals in the 2000 season. Basinger produced a quartet of two field-goal games that year and put 53 points on the board.
•
SCOUTING REPORT: While he was sacked 12 times by Salisbury, South QB Heath Barringer impressed the Hornets with his resiliency and speed.
“South’s quarterback is good and South is better than people think,” Salisbury linebacker D.J. Alexander said. “Teams shouldn’t take them for granted. If they do, they might get beat.”
Barringer is the starting quarterback for the first time, but he’s been on the field at other positions for a while. South has used him previously as a receiver and defensive back as well as backup QB.
•
D: Linebacker Brian Cagler is one of a handful of returning starters at South and was the defensive leader on Friday.

West Rowan
West Rowan scored another TD in the kicking game in Friday’s 28-26 loss to Mooresville. J.T. Sanders, one of the county’s top track sprinters, accepted the kickoff following a Mooresville’s first touchdown and sped 82 yards.
That makes 24 touchdowns the Falcons have scored since 2010, either by returning kicks or blocking kicks.
Most of those TDs came on punt returns by elusive players such as Eric Cowan, Trey Mashore and Tyler Kennedy, but now the Falcons are figuring out how to get six points on kickoffs. Sanders also had a kickoff return TD last season, taking the opening kickoff 90 yards against SPC opponent Hickory Ridge.
Javon Quarles scored on a punt return last season, while L.J. Robinson scored on a blocked punt.
•
PICKS: Sanders had a big opening night, as he also intercepted a pass. DB Deyquan Byrd also had a pick for the Falcons.
•
IN A RUSH: While the Falcons allowed 285 rushing yards to Mooresville, that was still an improvement over last season when the Blue Devils rushed for 356. That was a season-high allowed by the Falcons.

A.L. Brown
A.L. Brown ended a three-game skid against Concord with a 26-15 victory that probably should’ve been easier than it was.
The Wonders had to overcome a staggering number of penalties and careless turnovers, but they have spectacular athletes in Jayln Cagle, Sandon McCoy, Damon Johnson and Dominique Washington, and they were able to fight back from a 15-14 deficit.
“Considering all the things we had to overcome, I’ve never been prouder of any team I’ve coached,” A.L. Brown coach Mike Newsome said. “We’ve got a lot to work on, we’ve got a whole lot of things to clean up, but this team can be dangerous.”
•
BOTH WAYS: Using Cagle and McCoy to bolster the defense, the Wonders stuffed Concord’s running game. Cagle and McCoy are studs, but can they stay healthy with their increased workload? Cagle is also the Wonders’ primary kick returner, so he’s almost a 48-minute man.
Cagle starred at West Rowan Middle School as a youngster.

Davie
Davie receiver Ben Ellis needs no introduction, but his effort in a 53-22 loss to Page was eye-popping. Ellis had eight catches for 200 yards and three scores against the Pirates. The eight catches and three TDs matched career highs.
Ellis doesn’t have special size (5-11, 175 pounds), but he has 4.5 speed. He’s coming off a junior season in which he had 49 catches for 1,191 yards and 11 TDs. In his games against West Rowan and North Rowan, he totaled 14 catches for 359 yards.
Davie got 280 passing yards from junior Chris Reynolds in his debut as starting quarterback. Reynolds threw two picks early, before he settled in.
•
D: Avery Williford had the first defensive fumble recovery of the season for the War Eagles, who fell behind Page 21-0 early. Davie will take on West Rowan on Friday.