The right shoulder of quarterback Justin Hardin, who missed the regular -season finale with Concord and most of the preceding game with Northwest Cabarrus, didn’t look bad at all. And his right arm looked even better.

Hardin threw the ball only eight times, but four of those tosses found the waiting arms of Ryan Craft, whose legs turned two of them into his eighth and ninth TDs of the season.

“I felt nervous about maybe getting hit on the shoulder and missed some passes early,” said Hardin. “But our offensive line made sure I didn’t take any licks at all.”

“Justin made good reads and the line protected him just beautifully,” added Kannapolis head coach Bruce Hardin. “If Justin gets time, Ryan’s going to get open. He’s a little jitterbug out there.”

Also returning to active duty was fullback Duran Lipscomb. Out last week after a concussion in the Northwest game, he ran three times for 32 yards, caught a two-point conversion pass and made a bruising block that sprung teammate Marcus Rivens for a game-breaking 87-yard punt return.

The Wonders (12-0) opened the playoffs in ferocious fashion. They endured six damaging penalties and had some trouble with low snaps on extra points and punts, but otherwise looked like a team that can contend for a state championship. That run continues next Friday night at home against heated rival Concord.

Workhorse Marcello Stanback churned for 157 yards, Eric Caldwell banged for three TDs in only four carries and Craft pulled in 171 yards worth of Hardin’s heaves.

Then there was the Wonder defense, led by dominating lineman Des Williams and linebacker Jason Brown. It held South Iredell to a single first down and only a handful of positive plays in the second half. The Vikings got their only points on defense when Rydell Cowan returned a third-quarter fumble for a score after Craft got sandwiched from all angles after making a catch.

But the play that had everyone talking was Rivens’ magical punt return.

It was only 15-0 nearly halfway through the second quarter and South Iredell had moved into Wonder territory with its methodical Wing-T offense. But on third down at the Wonder 42, Williams crashed through and sacked Viking quarterback Jon Seaford at midfield. The Vikings had to punt on fourth-and-long and Rivens was waiting.

“They kicked the first punt away from me,” said Rivens. “So I asked the coaches to put two men back there, so either Blair (Hardin) or me could run it back.”

The Wonders complied with the request and the Vikings’ second punt sailed directly to Rivens at the Wonder 13. He caught it cleanly and raced up the far sideline to the 20, but then appeared to be hemmed in. Suddenly, however, Lipscomb appeared and a pile of Viking defenders disappeared underneath him.

Then Rivens was in the clear. At his 45, he cut back all the way across the field and outran the last trio of defenders for an electrifying score.

“I guess that was sort of like Nick (Maddox) used to do it,” said a smiling Rivens.

Just a couple of weeks ago, Rivens made a similar huge return to break open the Wonders’ game with East Rowan.

“That return —that was the nail in our backs,” said South coach Kent Millsaps.

“Marcus has been making plays like that ever since he’s been here,” said coach Hardin. “He’s steady and he’s great all at the same time.”

Speaking of steady and great, 1400-yard man Stanback took the first play from scrimmage 62 yards past the startled Vikings to the South 6. Caldwell dragged defenders into the end zone two plays later for a 7-0 lead.

“The atmosphere in this stadium was like a college game,” said Millsaps. “Our guys were a little unsure at the start, and then it was just dang, right off the bat, we’re in a hole.”

Welcome to Kannapolis, coach. The third-seeded Wonders have won 40 of their last 42 games.

The hole got deeper for No. 14 seed South early in the second quarter when Hardin threw to Craft for 37 yards on a third-and-22 to ignite a drive. Caldwell got the score after performing a battering ram impression on two Vikings at the 5-yard line. A low snap on the ensuing extra point created some excitement, but holder Blair Hardin calmly picked the ball up and tossed to an open Lipscomb to make it 15-0.

After Rivens’ heroics, it was 22-0 at halftime, even though South Iredell had dominated time of possession and had pounded out 10 first downs to the Wonders’ six.

“South looked pretty satisfied to bang out three and four yards at a time,” said coach Hardin. “That’s their offense, and in the first half they did a good job of keeping the ball.”

But defensive coordinator Bill Wightman made all the right moves in the locker room, and in the second half there was a Wonder waiting every place there had been a first-half hole. Then the Vikes lost some patience, started turning the ball over and were well on their way to being blown out.

Cowan’s TD made it 22-6, but only for a few seconds. The Wonders answered with a 34-yard run by Stanback and a 26-yard scoring burst by Caldwell to push the lead back to 29-6.

Then Justin Hardin and Craft hooked up for two sudden scores in a span of three minutes and it was all over.

“They played one-on-one on the corner with no safety in the middle of the field,” said Justin Hardin. “Ryan’s got the speed, and he got behind them pretty easily.”

“We knew we couldn’t let them have big plays, had to play perfect on special teams and couldn’t turn it over,” said Millsaps. “But a lot happened.