Concord, which got off to a slow start early in the season, held onto second place with its ninth straight win over the Falcons in a span of 12 years. Coach E.Z. Smith’s Spiders are 5-1 in the SPC, a half game behind unbeaten Kannapolis A.L. Brown, and 6-3 overall.

Coach Scott Young’s West club, unbeaten after five games, is 5-3 overall after consecutive losses to Northwest Cabarrus, Kannapolis and Concord. The Falcons dropped to 2-3 (tied for sixth place) with Sun Valley in the standings.

West could still finish 5-3 in the league by beating Piedmont, Sun Valley and third-place Central Cabarrus (4-2). That would most likely put the Falcons in a multiple tie for the last of three playoff berths allotted to the SPC.

“You’ve got to give them credit, and you’ve got to give us credit. It was two pretty good football teams playing, and they won,” said a disappointed Young of West. “Credit their defense,” he added. “They shut down Scooter Sherrill.”

The Spiders allowed the West wide receiver to catch only three passes for 8 yards. He had 19 receptions for 296 yards coming into the contest.

“We told our team it’s a must win, that the team that wins this game has a leg up on third place,” said Smith.

West made a strong bid to beat the Spiders for the first time since 1987 and only the second time in school history, leading 13-7 in the second quarter after a 63-yard punt return by Justin Davis for a touchdown.

Davis’ great run, aided by a big block from Bobby Perrell, was soon followed by a clutch defensive play by Spiders quarterback Jamel Jackson, who picked off a pass thrown by West quarterback Jared Barnette. It stayed tied at 13-all with 5:55 left in the half after the Falcons’ Luke Drechsler blocked Concord’s extra-point attempt.

The second half started out with a flurry of turnovers. First, West running back Scooter Dalton fumbled on the opening scrimmage play of the half, and Jackson recovered for the Spiders.

Two plays later, halfback Mark Johnson of Concord fumbled the ball back to the Falcons’ Perrell.

West then came out on the short end of what appeared to be two turnovers on the same play. First, Mack Johnson picked off a Barnette pass and ran it back to the West 33, where he appeared to be stripped of the football while still running. The Falcons’ Kyle Isenhour fell on what he thought was a fumble.

Instead, after a long discussion, officials ruled it was still Concord’s ball.

“The referee came over and explained it to me,” said Young. “He said one of the officials had blown it dead when Concord had possession of the ball.”

“The referee might have had a different angle,” said Isenhour, who was dismayed when the Spiders got possession while he was laying on the football. “Who knows what would have happened it we had gotten the ball back?” said West’s starting right guard.

Concord took advantage of the break, going 33 yards in four plays with fullbackLawrence Harris getting 32 of the yards. Quarterback Jackson got the last yard for the TD. Concord lined up to kick the extra point, but an offsides penalty against West moved the ball a yard and a half closer to the goal line. The Spiders then went for the 2-point conversion with Jackson running it in. It was 21-13 with 7:22 left in the third period.

West wasted a perfectly executed 45-yard pass from Barnette to Davis later in the third period, stalling after reaching the Concord 13.

Defensive back Horatio Everhart came up with a big play a couple of minutes later, intercepting a Jackson pass and running it back 37 yards to the Concord 30.

West, after four runs by Dalton and a facemask penalty against the Spiders, reached the Concord 5. An offsides penalty hurt the Falcons’ momentum, then Concord’s defense tightened. Young called on freshman placekicker Matt Russ for a 35-yard field goal — the first of his career — that pulled the Falcons within 21-16 with 9:22 left to play.

West, fighting the clock, got a 50-yard punt from Dalton that backed Concord up to its 15-yard line with 4:52 to play. Two holding penalties pushed the Spiders back to the 4, then James Francis and Luke Drechsler threw Harris for a 1-yard loss to the 3.

Jackson, on third down, threw a long pass, which was intercepted by West’s Eric Weimer at the Concord 39. That gave the Falcons 2:48 to get the ball in the end zone.

Barnette needed only a few seconds, firing a first-down pass into the end zone to wide receiver David Terry, but the 39-yard play was nullified by a holding penalty.

“We made some untimely penalties,” said Young. “The dagger in the heart was that TD called back there at the end of the game.”

West eventually lost the ball on downs at the Concord 42, and the Spiders needed only three plays to run out the clock.

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NOTES: Harris was the game’s top rusher with 97 yards on 13 attempts, while Dalton, splitting time between running back and quarterback, had 58 yards in 15 tries for West. ... The Falcons’ Davis, in addition to his long punt return for a TD, had four catches for 67 yards plus two runs for 16 yards. ... West visits Piedmont next Friday, and Concord has an open date.

Everybody in Salisbury’s Ludwig Stadium knew the ball was heading to Kamal Watkins.

They didn’t know the North Stanly running back was going to throw it.

Watkins tossed a halfback touchdown pass, intercepted two balls and ran for 324 yards and four touchdowns in the Comets’ 34-20 comeback win Friday night. After trailing 2A Central Carolina Conference foe Salisbury 20-14 at halftime, the Comets came out with a simple game plan — give No. 20 the football.

“I felt like I was getting the ball every time, but Ilike that,”Watkins said. “I like the pressure being on me, I like to put the team on my shoulders.”

North Stanly (2-7 overall, 1-3 CCC) needed plenty of help after the Hornets stormed to a 12-0 lead in the opening five minutes. But that’s before Watkins got started. On his sixth carry, he raced 37 yards for a touchdown. His final run of the first half, from 24 yards out, tied the game at 12-12, and an O.J. Owens conversion made it 14-12 with 1:52 remaining.

“I was playing safety and every time back there I anticipated too much and he ran right by me,”Hornets junior Markeice Daugherty said. “He got me like that a couple of times — cut … and boom.”

Daugherty got quick revenge. Salisbury (0-9, 0-4) looked content to run out the clock in the first half with a first down at its own 30-yard line. Then quarterback Terry Johnson dropped back and launched a bomb that Daugherty settled under at the 25-yard line.

He beat defensive back O.J. Owens the rest of the way into the end zone and the North Stanly band had to be waved off the field for the Hornets’ two-point conversion, a Johnson pass to Gromyko Walker that put Salisbury up 20-14.

“I didn’t think I could get by O.J. like that, he’s supposed to be one of the best defenders in the state,”Daugherty said. “That got us hyped up. We thought we could hold them.”

A stunned Comet team hoped otherwise.

“I was surprised we were down. I tried to teach the team that the game’s not over until the scoreboard’s on the fourth quarter and there’s no time left,”Watkins said. “I was telling the players to keep their heads up and we pulled it off.”

Watkins’ use of the word “we” was generous. North Stanly received the second half kickoff and ran five straight plays to Watkins down to the Salisbury 13-yard line. But two holding calls and a staunch Hornet defense turned away the scoring opportunity on downs.

The Comets roared back on their next drive, though, with Watkins setting up third-and-goal at the 9. The third quarter ended, giving North Stanly head coach Robert Harris plenty of time to plan the next play. QBWes Herlocker pitched right to Watkins, who took two steps, stopped and lobbed a perfect strike to a wide-open James McRae Jr. in the end zone.

“That was pretty good, I didn’t know I could do it,”Watkins said. “Coach called my number and he (McRae) was wide open because the corners came up.”

“We’ve had that play in our repertoire but haven’t used it in a couple weeks,”Harris said. “McRae came over and told me it was there and I told him he’d better make it happen.”

Owens broke the 20-20 tie with a two-point conversion run.

TheSalisbury offense that worked flawlessly in the first half sputtered in the second, as the Hornets held the ball in the third quarter for just 2:11. After their second three-and-out series of the second half, Owens raced 57 yards through the middle and down the left sideline for a 28-20 advantage.

“Once you hit him he goes down like anybody else — that’s the problem, containing him,” Hornet senior linebacker Darren Lasco said. “We showed we could stop him, but he’s a great running back.”

Salisbury earned its first first down of the second half with 8:50 remaining in the game and set the stage for a game-tying score with five minutes to go.

After forcing the only North Stanly punt of the second half, the Hornets started first-and-10 from their own 20. Johnson dropped back to throw and found senior wideout Adam Taylor, who slipped one tackle and made his way to midfield. A block there sprung him and he raced the final 50 yards untouched — but the block that shook him lose was in the back, and two yellow flags sat at midfield, silent assassins of the Salisbury rally. Johnson’s next pass was intercepted.

“That was a good, obvious call,”Hornets head coachRaymond Daugherty said. “We did everything we had to do in the last four minutes of playing a football game but score.”

Owens made sure the Hornets remained winless when he grabbed his second interception of the game in the end zone. Two plays later he burned up some of the final seconds with an 87-yard run to cap off his amazing night.

“He’s been that way all year, I appreciate everything he’s done,”Harris said. “He definitely gave us some big plays in the second half.”

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