Oh sure, the all-county football team was announced yesterday. And yes, there will be an
athletic banquet to honor those football players at each school.But football season isn’t exactly over
yet, now is it?
At least, not until the year-end
Rowan Oscars are distributed. These are the awards that really matter, after all.
So let’s get to it.
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Game of the Year: North
Rowan’s 41-35 overtime victory at East Davidson. The game came down to a
fourth-and-inches situation where Justin Wishon and Marcus Lawing stopped a Golden Eagle
runner cold.
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Play of the Year: West
Rowan’s Justin Davis ran a kickoff back 100 yards in a 49-12 victory over South
Rowan.
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Most Impressive Game: South
Rowan’s 35-17 victory over West Forsyth that jump-started the Raiders playoff march
and brings us to...
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Comeback of the Year: To Rick
Vanhoy’s South team, which started 1-7 before winning its final three regular season
games.
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Quote of the Year 1: “He
wanted to taste your spleen.”
North’s defensive coordinator
ChrisSifford describing hard-hitting linebacker Marcus Lawing.
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Most Disappointing Loss:
Salisbury’s 21-12 Homecoming defeat to 1-4-1 Lexington. The Hornets eventually went
0-11.
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Most Disappointing Loss 2: East
Rowan’s 34-31 defeat to Central Cabarrus.
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Newcomer of the Year: Scooter
Dalton transferred from Lexington and became West Rowan’s tailback, rushing for over
1,000 yards.
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Quote of the Year 2: “I
don’t go out. I don’t answer the phone.”
North coach Roger Secreast on what
it’s like the day after a loss.
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Best basketball player in pads:
West’s Scooter Sherrill.
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Best baseball player in pads:
East’s Cal Hayes.
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Best soccer player in pads:
North’s Lawing.
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Best Nickname: Super Mario
(Sturdivant) of North.
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Quote of the Year 3: “I
don’t know when I’ve ever been prouder.”
East coach Jeff Safrit after a
20-12 win over eventual 3A quarterfinalist Northwest Cabarrus.
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Clutch performance of the year: In
the final two games of the year, North’s Alfonzo Miller caught passes for 400 yards
and eight touchdowns.
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Best P.A. man: As long as
Salisbury principal Windsor Eagle keeps feeding me, he will win this award. Oh yeah,
he’s pretty good on the mike too.
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Marco Polo Award: Mike Blount, the
all-county punter, transferred from Salisbury to North Rowan and back to Salisbury during
the season.
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Quote of the Year 4: “If he
isn’t an all-conference and all-county player, there isn’t one.
Salisbury coach Raymond Daugherty
on junior Ken Drye.
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Bigfoot Award: South’s Robbie
Basinger was the county’s top kicker.
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Best band: Salisbury was probably
smaller in numbers than any other school but when those kids showed up 50 miles away at
Ledford for an 0-10 team in the last week of the season, they sealed — along with the
band director — the ultimate SA-LUTE!
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Best cheerleaders: I wouldn’t
touch that one with a 10-foot pole.
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Quote of the Year 5:
“We’re confident. We’re cooking. We’ve got gas.”
West defensive back Terris Sifford
after the Falcons won their fifth straight game to open the season.
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Most Underrated Player: West
fullback Jonathan Diggs, overshadowed by Dalton all year long, still ran for 677 yards,
despite missing two games with a bum ankle.
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Most Photogenic Player:
North’s Sturdivant had his photo in this paper 23 times. He nipped Dalton and
South’s Keith Garrett, who each had 18 photos taken for Mom’s photo album.
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Most Photogenic Coach:
North’s Secreast had six photos taken for his wife’s scrapbook.
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Quote of the Year 6: It’s
hard to believe he’s only a sophomore.”
Mount Pleasant coach Michael Johns
after watching Cal Hayes run for four touchdowns and 188 yards in an East win.
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Top Performances: Sturdivant had
431 total yards against East Davidson; West quarterback Jared Barnette was voted the state
3A player of the year after throwing for four touchdowns in the win over South.
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Whatever Happened To...
North’s former defensive coordinator Robert Steele.
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Quote of the Year 6: “This is
the kind of week you stay in the business for.”
Salisbury coach Daugherty on
Rivalry Week leading up to the North Rowan game.
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Super Start: The first pass of
sophomore Ben Hampton’s varsity career at West went for a seven-yard touchdown. The
first rushing attempt of sophomore Ben Hampton’s varsity career at West went for a
30-yard touchdown.
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Quote of the Year 7: “We
don’t have an athlete that’s capable of staying with him in that
situation.”
South coach Rick Vanhoy after
watching West’s Sherrill catch TD passes of 50 and 54 yards.
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The All-Madden Team: For those
gritty, in-your-face, muddy, never-say-die competitors: East’s Brent Lambert,
Salisbury’s Drye, South’s Darryl Childers, North’s Brian Alford and
West’s S.J. Culbertson.
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The Iron Man Award: To East
lineman Danny Misenheimer, who started every game from his freshman to his senior year, a
total of 48 games.
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Quote of the Year 8: “It will
be different without Mario. He helped make me.”
North receiver Dre Byrd on not
having quarterback Studivant around next season.
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The Beef People: South linemen
Patrick Gaddy and Brian Billings. When asked what they’d do if each became a
millionaire by age 20, Gaddy said he’d “eat out every night.” Billings
said, “NEVERGOHUNGRY.”
It’s no wonder South’s
line was so good Because the Beef People are tough and big. Real big.
How big? When they go swimming,
they leave a ring around the lake.
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Here’s some other food for
thought.
The five Rowan County teams
combined for 57 football games this year and the Post was there for every single one.
All told, there were over 100
athletes showcased (action or mug shots) 403 times. West Rowan names were mentioned in
cutlines 101 times, followed by East with 88, South with 87, North with 77 and Salisbury
with 50.
Counting all fall sports, there
were 60 Meet the Player senior athlete profiles and 40 features on ballplayers —
counting other coverage area teams Davie, Kannapolis and North Stanly.
We had a good time. And now with
basketball season starting, we get to do it all over again.
See ya in the gym.
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Ronnie Gallagher is the sports
editor of the Post. |
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