On the contrary, even in defeat the Falcons may have taken a monumental forward stride.

“No one anticipated us coming in here and playing like that,” wideout Scooter Sherrill noted at Memorial Stadium, where West fought gamely but lost 21-7 to Kannapolis A.L. Brown.

“We should be proud,” he continued. “We should hold our heads high. People have to realize we played the No. 1 team in the state even for three quarters. You know what that does to your confidence?”

On this night, it made West (5-2 overall, 2-2 South Piedmont Conference) believe it could topple the Kannapolis Big Green Machine. Unbeaten and unscathed, the Wonders quickly learned their seventh victory would be no gimme.

“They’re heavyweights,” winning coach Bruce Hardin said after the Wonders bounced West with a pair of decisive fourth-quarter touchdowns. “They looked good on film and they looked good out here. We had a lot of respect for them coming in and they didn’t let us down.”

Instead, West dumped the hosts in a 7-0 hole before the game was five minutes old. An 11-play scoring drive began when Justin Davis returned the opening kickoff 22 yards to the 32. It ended when running back Scooter Dalton danced into the end zone from 3 yards out for his county-best 11th TD of the season.

“We were able to move the ball because we knew where they would line up,” explained Falcons’ coach Scott Young. “And when we know what defense we’ll be facing, we like our chances. Some of these teams have helter-skelter defenses and come at you from all different directions. That gives us trouble.”

Kannapolis, a team that averaged better than 50 points per game through six weeks, scored midway through the second period to pull even at halftime. But that did little to hinder the soaring Falcons.

“Oh, that first half felt great,” said lineman Jason Fink, part of a West defense that limited Kannapolis to 69 total yards in the first two quarters. “We smashed heads and felt like we were just as good as them. Coach told us not to be intimidated by that ‘K’ on their helmets. All we had to do was stay away from the big play.”

West’s Calvin Roebuck made a huge one when he recovered a fumbled punt on the Kannapolis 38 late in the third quarter. But the Falcons turned a golden opportunity into straw by allowing quarterback Jared Barnette to be sacked and then taking a procedure penalty.

The Wonders’ Duran Lipscomb made an even bigger play on the fourth snap of the fourth quarter. The junior fullback took a handoff from cool-handed quarterback Justin Hardin, squeezed into West’s secondary and raced 78 yards for the go-ahead score.

“Yeah, I saw a couple of heads drop,” said Dalton. “After that we didn’t play with the same confidence.”

Kannapolis went on to rack up more than 200 yards offense in the final period and closed the scoring when Marcello Stanback converted a turnover into an insurance touchdown with 6:49 to play.

West, which has lost two straight games after opening the season with five straight wins, was denied a chance to make things interesting when Ben Hampton was stopped near the goal line with 3:37 remaining.

“I don’t know if it would have mattered,” said Young. “It might have changed the complexion of the game.”

In the meantime, it appears the fifth-place Falcons have finished their early-season presentation, stepped down from the podium and taken a seat among the spectators. Or have they?