Gallagher column: Roaming the county

East Rowan assistant Bubba Rosenbaum works with the Mustangs as they prepare for tonight's opener at home against Salisbury. Photo by Tyler Buckwell, Salisbury Post

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Roaming the county, getting ready for tonight ...

Quick, how many times have we written “46 straight” and “nation’s longest winning streak” since last December?

A million times, maybe?

It seems that many. But whaddaya gonna do? West Rowan has won 46 straight going into tonight’s game at Mooresville. And that is the nation’s longest winning streak.

There, that’s a million and one times we’ve written it.

You can’t ignore it.

I’m sure Mooresville hasn’t. Coach Hal Capps and the Blue Devils return 41 lettermen to their 4A program. Beating West tonight in the season opener would be a feather in their, uh, Capps.

Mooresville has an unbelievable stadium with that nice turf. The Blue Devils want to defend it.

Stay tuned.

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While West gets all the respect, Salisbury seems to still be fighting for it.

On one prep preview TV show, Statesville was referred to as the 2AA champ, not Salisbury.

Then, the screen showed the biggest obstacles in West’s way: Week 1 at Mooresville, Week 2 against Davie and Week 4 against South Point, S.C.

How about Game 3 against the defending 2AA champion Hornets?

Left out again.

We really don’t know if West even considers Salisbury a big rival? To be a rival, both teams have to win every now and then. Salisbury has not beaten the Falcons in a long, long time.

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The first night of football is always a tossup. A preseason full of smiles and confidence will come down to one Friday night where dreams are quickly realized or shattered — until next week.

East Rowan and South Rowan are in that boat. Both were 2-9 last year and both expect better days in 2011.

But East is playing host to Salisbury and no one is picking the Mustangs.

South is going to Central Cabarrus and is favored. A 1-0 record would really look good in Landis.

In other games, Carson goes to North, Shelby travels to A.L. Brown in Mike Newsome’s debut as Wonder coach and Greensboro Page visits last year’s 4A state finalist Davie County.

Now, how many games has West Rowan won in a row?

All right, already!

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On the air tonight ...

• Howard Platt and WSTP 1490 AM will call the Carson-North Rowan game.

• Johnny Cloer and WSAT 1280 AM will call all of Salisbury’s games.

• The Commissioner of high school football, Carl Ford, and WRNA 1140 AM will be all South all the time.

Go to a game tonight, folks. And be nice.