| Amazing West Rowan is going after a bigger
championship, but coach Scott Young’s Falcons have achieved a feat no other West team
has accomplished. Unbeaten
West, 5-0 going into tonight’s home game with Northwest Cabarrus, is the undisputed
Rowan County champion. West has defeated the other four county teams by a combined total
of 159-41. No West team has ever gone 4-0 against county rivals until this season.
It’s only the second time in
history a West team has gone undefeated and untied against county foes. The 1987 Falcons
were 2-0, beating North Rowan and East Rowan.
West teams have had winning
records within the county only seven times in 41 seasons, but the Falcons are a solid 8-4
over the last three years. West is the only county school that has played the other teams
each year since 1989. The Falcons are 22-23 over that span, counting a playoff loss to
North in 1994.
“That’s an honor,”
said coach Young of his team’s mythical county title. “Our boys have worked
hard; they deserve it. I’m very proud of them. That’s great that these boys are
working hard enough to make some history.”
He added, “I knew we had
swept the county, but I did not know that it had never been done before (by West). ... At
the beginning, I thought it was going to be a very tough schedule. We were looking for a
possible playoff position and looking just to be competitive in every game. These boys
have unsurpassed work ethic.”
However, even when your team is
5-0, coaches encounter off-the field problems. Young wishes those problems would go away.
“If our boys and the coaching
staff only had to worry about football, we’d have a good shot at doing well the rest
of the year,” he said without elaborating.
West is one of the favorites for
one of the South Piedmont Conference’s three state 3A playoff berths. Of course, the
Falcons would love to be the first West team to win a conference championship in a league
in which Kannapolis A.L. Brown is usually the favorite.
Each SPC game, including
tonight’s battle with Northwest, is crucial to the Falcons’ title hopes.
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Last week’s high school
prediction record was 12-3, leaving the season mark at 75-14-2 for a percentage of .835.
This week’s picks:
Northwest Cabarrus has a dangerous
offense, but West’s defense should be ready for the challenge. The Falcons, of
course, can score big too — West Rowan 35, Northwest Cabarrus 17.
East Rowan goes to Charlotte to
play Harding. The Mustangs will be trying to bounce back after their 28-7 loss to West
last week. They’ll do it easily — East Rowan 56, Harding 8.
South visits North in a county
rivalry. Both the Raiders and Cavaliers have had disappointing seasons so far. Each will
be looking for a win tonight to start the second half of the season on a high note —
North Rowan 21, South Rowan 14.
Salisbury, according to North
Carolina Prep Football News, is a 19-point underdog to Lexington at home tonight. Coach
Raymond Daugherty’s winless Hornets have played well in several of their losses.
Maybe this is the time for a victory — Salisbury 22, Lexington 20.
Kannapolis A.L. Brown could score
100 points tonight, but the Wonders probably won’t do it. They can name the score
— Kannapolis 77, Piedmont 0.
Davie County warms up for its
Central Piedmont Conference schedule with a non-league game at Central Davidson. The War
Eagles are playing well, despite quarterback Drew Ridenhour’s knee injury —
Davie County 28, Central Davidson 15.
North Stanly meets Ledford in the
Central Carolina Conference. The struggling Comets have upset on their minds, but Ledford
is solid — Ledford 42, North Stanly 22.
Other picks: Mooresville over
South Iredell, Central Cabarrus over Concord, HighPoint Central over East Davidson, R.J.
Reynolds over North Forsyth and West Forsyth over Northwest Guilford.
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Senior sports writer Ed Dupree
covers prep football for the Post. |
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