How about a street paved in gold to honor the all-state quarterback who paved the way to the 2A playoffs for North Rowan Friday night.

In a heartstopping, do-or-die overtime contest, Sturdivant threw for four touchdowns, ran for two others and personally sent East Davidson home for the season in a pulsating 41-35 victory.

“Itold the boys that whatever it took for us to win the game, I was going to do it,” said Sturdivant. “This was not going to be my last game.”

Sturdivant did everything and more: He finished with 431 yards of total offense, including 362 in the air.

“That’s not bad,” said North coach Roger Secreast, who has orchestrated all of Sturdivant’s 7,141 career total yards.

But ironically, it was the Cavalier defense, throttled the entire night by 319 yards of down-your-throat wishbone offense, that made the play to finally win the game.

After Alfonzo Miller caught a 10-yard scoring pass — his fourth of the evening — on North’s first play in overtime, the Cavs failed on the two-point conversion. East sensed victory, considering North had not come close to stopping the wishbone all night.

But the Golden Eagles eventually faced a fourth down on the one-foot line. Fullback Billy McNeer took the handoff and BAM — he was met by Jarrett Wishon. He tried to roll off and BAM — he met Marcus Lawing. McNeer fell short, setting off a wild celebration by the Cavs and their fans.

North (6-5, 4-2) was going to the playoffs for the seventh time in the last eight years. It will be the Central Carolina Conference’s third seed.

A giddy Wishon said afterward, “Iwrapped (McNeer) up first and all of a sudden, out of nowhere, Lawing took him down. I didn’t know what happened until I saw everybody going crazy.”

There would have been no overtime had Sturdivant not led fourth-quarter drives of 84 and 94 yards to tie the game.

He had stood helpless on the sidelines for the first eight minutes of the third quarter as East (6-5, 3-3) rammed the ball downfield on a 13-play drive to go up 28-14. When he did get it back, it took just 1:20 to score, the finishing touch coming on a 46-yard bomb to Miller.

But a sense of urgency hit North when East began yet another long drive going into the final period.

The turning point came when Joey Creasy fumbled after a 20- yard dash to the Cavalier 16 with 11 minutes left. Dre Byrd made another “play of the day,” stripping the ball. Lawing recovered.

Instead of going up 35-21, East had given the ball back to Sturdivant. Seven plays later, he hit Miller in the end zone from 23 yards out. Miller made a spectacular grab, reaching over a defensive back to snatch it away.

“They didn’t have anybody who could stay up with Alfonzo,” said Secreast.

“When I see him one-on-one, I have to go to him,” said Sturdivant, who hooked up with his sophomore sensation seven times for a whopping 214 yards.

The kick was blocked, however, leaving North trailing 28-27.

“The gamebreaker was their fumble,” Secreast said. “If they don’t fumble, we don’t win.”

East still appeared to put the game away on Richard Knox’s short run with 3:32 remaining for a 35-27 lead.

It looked even more gloomy when Miller couldn’t handle the kickoff and fell on it at his own 6, 94 yards from paydirt.

Sturdivant was up to the task. On a third-and-six from the North 10 and 2:40 showing on the clock, he hit Phillips with a 39-yard gainer.

From that point on, it was all Super Mario. He ran for 11 yards. He hit Eric Davis for 10. He found Miller over the middle for 16 and Thomas Mashore for another 16. Just like that, North was on the 1 and Sturdivant surged over with just 36 seconds left in regulation.

Down 35-33, he rolled out on the conversion and dove in.

“I was going to make it in, regardless,” he said, “even if I had to jump over somebody’s head.”

That forced overtime, where Miller caught the OT touchdown, leaving the rest to Wishon and company.

““It’s not how you start,” said Secreast with a grin. “It’s how you finish.”

Sturdivant started and finished strong.

“I would’ve gotten nervous but with a quarterback like Mario, you always feel comfortable,” Wishon said.

Now, about that street in East Spencer. A good suggestion would be to call it Mario’s Way.