After opening the season with four straight 100-yard games, Falcon tailback Scooter Dalton
saw his numbers dive over West’s next four games, when he averaged just 53 yards a
contest.His chances of
improving on that mark against winless Piedmont looked great — until West arrived and
saw what kind of shape the field was in. But the muddy mess didn’t matter for the
Falcons, who won 38-0, or for Dalton, who gained 144 yards and scored three times.
“I tried my best to keep
heavy feet. I was very limited making cuts,” Dalton said. “I had good blocking
up front, the line did a good job.
“It felt pretty good to
finally get back to the 100-yard mark.”
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slippery when wet: The field
condition also made life hard on the ball carriers when trying to hold onto the ball.
Both teams fumbled three times.
Pouncing on loose balls for West Rowan were Christian Summers and Brant Marlin. Big
sophomore Luke Drechsler slithered his way through the Piedmont line to block two punts,
both of which led to West touchdowns.
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this little piggy … Scooter
Sherrill missed the Piedmont game and could be out again Friday night against Sun Valley
because of a sore toe.
The injury also kept Sherrill out
of action against Northwest Cabarrus. Sherrill didn’t practice Tuesday but sounded
eager to get back for his final two football games.
With star quarterback Mario
Sturdivant out with an injury, Graham Hosch stepped in to the position against High Point
Central, the No. 1 team in the state. His trial by fire against the best team in the
conference and state led to a 52-14 defeat. Among the problems in that game were the
effects Hosch’s promotion had on North’s depth.
“What happened is that we
lost one of our best receivers and blockers,” Cavs head coach Roger Secreast said.
“So we were limited in what we could do with our receivers and quarterback.”
Depth was also a problem at
tailback when Jamel Alexander injured his wrist. He was sailing along with an 87-yard
night when he carried for the final time in the third quarter before leaving with a
bruised wrist.
Secreast used a sophomore up from
the jayvee team, Aundry Russell, who gave North a 27-yard run.
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WHERE’S DRE? Dre Byrd was the
county’s leading receiver last season but even though his numbers have fallen off a
bit, he is still near the top of the receiving chart, despite just one catch Friday night.
In fact, three North receivers are
at the top of the receiving list. Chris Phillips’ four catches give him 31 on the
season. Alfonzo Miller caught two from Hosch and has 30. Byrd is next with 27.
“People are just playing him
better because he did so well last year,” Secreast said of Byrd. “But if you
take Dre, Alfonzo’s going to hurt you.”
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UP … for a while: North Rowan
wound up getting blown out by High Point Central, but the Cavaliers do hold the
distinction of being one of only two teams to lead the unbeaten Bison this season.
The Cavs led early 7-0.
High Point Central trailed East
Davidson 15-14 before rallying.
After beating West Forsyth for the
first time in a dozen years, South Rowan has put itself in the running for its first state
playoff berth since 1994.
South, 1-1 in the CPC, faces
Reynolds this week, a team it has historically fared well against.
South is 8-6 against Reynolds,
including a three-game winning streak from ’94-’96.
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MAKING HIS MOVE: South sophomore
Ricky Childers had only one pick a week ago, but with three in the last two weeks he now
is tied for the county lead with four.
In its last 48 games, East Rowan
has been shut out only twice.
Last Friday by Kannapolis and last
year by the same Wonders.
In its other 46 games in that
span, East averaged 27.1 ppg.
Kannapolis shut out East five
times in the ‘90s, also stifling the Mustangs in 1990, ‘93 and ‘95.
Wonder receiver Ryan Craft’s
streak of catching a touchdown pass in six consecutive games was stopped in the
Wonders’ 20-0 win over the Mustangs.
So was Justin Hardin’s streak
of throwing at least one touchdown pass. East ended that run at seven games.
Hardin’s streak of
consecutive games without an interception did continue. It stands at eight.
East did interrupt one Kannapolis
pass but it came when Adam Trexler picked off running back Marcello Stanback’s first
aerial of the season.
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ROWAN RAGE: Kannapolis back
Marcello Stanback now has 1,087 yards on the season, and thanks to a 60-yard run in the
fourth quarter against East, put together a 157-yard night in one of the hardest-hitting
games of the year.
Stanback, a Rowan County native,
has been particularly productive against the Rowan schools.
He ran for 141 yards against
South, 156 against North and 118 against West before last night’s effort.
That gives Stanback, a senior who
has finally been healthy for the first time this season, 572 yards against his Rowan
buddies. That’s an impressive average of 142.8 yards per game.
Stanback, 5-11 and 180 pounds, is
getting attention from several colleges.
The only bad news emerging from
Davie County’s thrilling 23-21 win against R.J. Reynolds Friday night came after the
game. Running back Ricky White’s ankle was stepped on and twisted during the
celebration, but head coach Doug Illing said White ran Monday in practice and hopefully
will be ready for Mount Tabor.
That means the War Eagles will be
at their best when they visit the Spartans for what amounts to a Central Piedmont
Conference championship game. Mount Tabor has one CPC loss, to West Forsyth. Davie remains
unbeaten with two to play.
“We’re very fortunate,
we’ve had some breaks and gotten some help from other people,” Illing said.
“Friday night was a thrilling victory for us in many ways.”
Now Davie tries to take the second
step in a victorious year.
“Mount Tabor is a big rival,
we’re playing for the No. 1 seed and the conference championship outright, and
that’s what we’re wanting to do,” Illing said. “Individuals have
stepped up and made big plays throughout our games many times. We’re teaching total
team effort and that’s what it’ll take to beat Mount Tabor at their place.”
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Ronnie Gallagher and Mike London
contributed to this notebook. |
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