SPENCER — Mario: Brother, what a show!It was Senior Night at North Rowan, and Cavaliers quarterback Mario
Sturdivant wanted to go out in style. He did, leading his team to a crucial,
come-from-behind 34-26 high school football victory over North Stanly.
“Coming into the game, I knew
this was going to be our last (home) game at North, so I just had to make it my
best,” said Sturdivant, a 6-foot-4, 165-pound third-year starter.
All he did was pile up 359 total
yards total offense for the third-best game of his career. He had 362 yards against East
Davidson last year and 434 against East Rowan as a sophomore.
Sturdivant completed 16 of 26
passes for 270 yards and three touchdowns and ran 89 yards, including a 13-yard TD run.
North Stanly’s Comets took a
26-20 lead with 9:49 to play, and North Rowan’s offense hadn’t produced a
second-half touchdown. Three plays later, the Cavaliers had tied the score on a 52-yard
touchdown pass from Sturdivant to wide receiver Alfonzo Miller. Kevin Rutherford’s
extra-point kick broke the tie, giving the home team a 27-26 lead. The defense protected
the slim lead and even added a late TD for good measure.
“There wasn’t no doubt
in my mind I was going to let this game slip out of our hands,” said Sturdivant.
“I felt like I had to win. I haven’t beat them dudes since we started playing.
I’ve never beaten North Stanly.”
The Comets defeated North Rowan
19-15 in Sturdivant’s sophomore season and 50-24 last year, so the quarterback
wasn’t going to look past North Stanly toward next Friday’s engagement with East
Davidson, a battle for third place in the Central Carolina Conference and a berth in the
state 2A playoffs.
“We had to take this one
first. You can’t get ahead and look at the next game. We had to win this one first
— one down, one more to go,” he said.
Sturdivant sat out last
week’s loss at unbeatenHighPoint Central so he could rest his injuries. He bruised a
rib and pulled muscles in his back in a win over Lexington two weeks ago.
“Having a healthy Mario back
helped us a great deal,” said North Rowan coach Roger Secreast.
The victory moved the Cavaliers
into a tie for third place with idle East Davidson. High Point Central and Ledford are
assured of finishing 1-2, but not necessarily in that order.
North Rowan is 3-2 in the CCC and
5-5 overall, while East Davidson stands 3-2 in the league and 6-4 overall. North Rowan
could have lost last night and still tied for third by beating East Davidson, but North
Stanly still had a chance to tie for third before losing to the Cavs. In case of a
three-way tie, North Rowan could have lost out on a tie-breaker.
North Stanly, 2-8 overall and 1-4
in the league, was officially eliminated from the playoffs. The Comets played without head
coach Robert Harris, who was suspended for one game by the school earlier this week. North
Stanly ends its season at home against Lexington next Friday.
“North Stanly’s tough on
us,” said Secreast. “This is the first time we’ve beaten them (in the last
three years). There’s some teams that people have a hard time beating. I can’t
explain it.”
The Comets, under the direction of
assistant coach Efriem Harrison, jumped out to an early 7-0 lead when running back Kamal
Watkins broke loose for a 62-yard TD run. It stayed 6-0 after North Rowan lineman Jarrett
Wishon blocked Wes Herlocker’s extra-point try.
Quick Andre Byrd, who also had a
big game for the Cavs, got his team fired up quickly with a 67-yard kickoff return that
set up a 13-yard TD run by Sturdivant.North Rowan led 7-6 after Rutherford’s
conversion.
Running back O.J. Owens put the
Comets on top 12-7 with a 3-yard TD run. Herlocker’s pass for two points failed.
It took the home team only seven
plays to score again with Sturdivant and Miller teaming up for their first TD of the
night, a 37-yarder. Rutherford made it 14-12 with his conversion.
Two more touchdowns were scored
late in the first half. Byrd caught a 14-yarder pass from Sturdivant, and Rutherford
converted, putting the Cavs ahead 20-12 with 5:29 to play.
The Comets got a 60-yard kickoff
return from the talented Owens, and the visitors needed only four plays to get on the
scoreboard again. This time it was quarterback Herlocker who got the TD from 5 yards out.
Herlocker then passed to Owens for two points to tie it at 20-all with 3:32 left in the
half.
Defenses dominated the third
quarter of the offensive duel, but Herlocker’s great 59-yard run in the fourth
quarter set up his team’s go-ahead touchdown. He and the Cavs’ Miller, who
chased down Herlocker at the 2-yard line, were both hurt on the play. Herlocker sat out
one play, then returned to score from 1 yard out to make it 26-20 with 9:49 to play. The
Cavs’ defense stopped Owens on his rushing attempt for two extra points.
Byrd, who wound up with 225 return
yards and 262 all-purpose
yards, kickstarted North
Rowan’s offense again, going 36 yards on the ensuing kickoff.
Three plays later, Miller got
behind the North Stanly secondary again and caught a pass from Sturdivant for the 52-yard
TD that tied the score. Rutherford added the point for the lead.
North Stanly fielded North
Rowan’s onsides kick at its own 47 and eventually faced a fourth-and-two situation.
Herlocker’s pass was incomplete, turning the ball over to the Cavs.
North Rowan’s offense kept
the ball on the ground, and the Cavaliers reached the North Stanly 9 before Owens broke up
a fourth-down pass.
North Stanly then had 91 yards to
go in only 1:33. Herlocker, on first down, threw toward the sideline on a pass that was
ruled a lateral. The football bounced into the end zone, where it was kicked by North
Rowan’s Miller back across the goal line. The Cavaliers’ Marcus Lawing scooped
it up at the 1-yard line and ran into the end zone for his first career TD. Rutherford
added the extra point.
n
NOTES: Andre Russell, who started
at linebacker in his second varsity game, wound up with 47 yards rushing in nine carries.
He filled in for starting running back Jamel Alexander, who re-injured his bruised sternum
in the first half. ... North Stanly’s Watkins, who missed some playing time with an
injury, had 112 yards in eight carries. ... Miller caught three passes for 105 yards. ...
Herlocker, who has committed to East Carolina University, punted 52 yards on his first
kick and averaged 44 for five attempts. |
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