The prep football notebook …North Rowan’s defense, based on points allowed, hasn’t had a
great season, but the Cavaliers had to shut down explosive North Stanly on Friday night to
keep their state 2A playoff hopes alive.
The Cavaliers won 34-26 in a score
that would indicate defense wasn’t that big a factor. But it was.
North Stanly, with three serious
offensive threats in quarterback Wes Herlocker and running backs Kamal Watkins and O.J.
Owens, had scored 20 points on North Rowan’s defense in the first half.
After halftime, the
Cavaliers’ defense did its job, limiting the visitors to one first down and 53 total
yards.
When North Rowan went ahead 27-26
on a 52-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Mario Sturdivant to wide receiver Alfonzo
Miller and an extra-point kick by Kevin Rutherford, the North defense had 8:10 left to
protect the lead.
North Stanly, on its next
possession, got only 8 yards on three rushing plays by Watkins, setting up a fourth-and-2
situation at the North Rowan 45. Herlocker’s fourth-down pass was incomplete, turning
the ball over to the Cavs.
The home team held onto the ball
and drove deep into North Stanly territory before being stopped at the 9-yard line.
With a one-point lead and only
1:24 to play, North Stanly had to go for a big play. Herlocker, with 270-pound nose guard
Jarrett Wishon of the Cavs in his face, threw a lateral pass toward the sideline, which
bounced short of the intended receiver. Defensive back Miller dived for the ball in the
end zone, knocking it back across the goal line. End Marcus Lawing scooped it up at the
1-yard line and stepped into the end zone for his first career touchdown.
“Herlocker had to throw it
down.I was about to get me another sack,” said Wishon, a junior third-year starter.
“I was out to get my third sack. ... Lawing told everybody before the game,
‘Touchdown tonight.’ He came out here and did it. He didn’t have to work
much.
“Me and Herlocker were
watching it from the ground. I was trying to celebrate, but I didn’t want to do too
much with Herlocker on my back, because I had him wrapped around me,” said Wishon.
North Rowan has now allowed 249
points in 10 games, an average of 24.9, and every opponent has scored at least two TDs
against the Cavaliers. Wishon, however, thinks his defensive unit is better than that.
“At halftime, they had 20
points. We decided to suck it up and put it to them. That’s what we did,” said
Wishon. As for defending the dangerous Comets, he added, “They’re rough;
they’ll put it to you. They’re fast. You can’t leave nothing wide open or
it’s a for-sure touchdown. You have to be alert every play.”
He thought back to the previous
Friday night, when the Cavaliers led 7-3 at halftime against unbeaten HighPoint Central
before falling 52-14.
“We showed it the first half
of High Point Central. If we played like that every game, we’d be fine. We’re
better than the scores,” said Wishon.
The news on the Scooter Sherrill
injury front is not good for the West Rowan Falcons.
Sherrill, who was Rowan
County’s leading receiver early in the year, missed his second consecutive game
Friday night as West buried Sun Valley 68-8.
If there’s a positive for the
Falcons, it’s that at least they now know exactly what’s wrong with Sherrill,
the state’s most highly touted basketball player.
Sherrill has a cracked bone at the
base of his foot.
Sherrill injured the foot in
West’s game at East Rowan over a month ago and has been in considerable pain since
then, but X-rays didn’t reveal exactly what was wrong.
A bone scan taken this week did,
however.
“The amazing thing is that
Scooter played two games (Kannapolis and Concord) with the injury,” said West coach
Scott Young. “That’s how bad he wanted to be out there. He’s got some
guts.”
Young credits Sherrill with a good
portion of a turnaround season in which West has gone from 3-8 to a possible 8-3 playoff
team.
Sherrill brought West a lot more
than just the ability to catch passes.
“When Scooter came out here
it changed the level of confidence for every one of our kids,” said Young.
“Scooter’s a winner.
“Our goal now is to still be
playing when Scooter is able to go again.”
That won’t be for at least
three weeks, however. Doctors have prescribed that length of inactivity for Sherrill, who
is wearing a boot on the injured foot.
Even with a final home game
remaining at East Rowan, more than one senior had a tough time leaving the field after
Friday night’s 17-7 loss to Concord.
The Mustangs close their season
Friday night against visiting Sun Valley for their homecoming game. That made the Concord
game Senior Night, and more importantly, a game the Mustangs had to win to keep their
playoff hopes alive.
With some help from underclassmen
Chris Faavesi, a sophomore, and Cody Merrifield, a junior, East’s senior defense
played its heart out in a scenario that has become common. Too few points scored in a loss
to a high-quality team.
Henry Faavesi teamed with Danny
Misenheimer, Thomas Hendrickson, Casey Loining with one hard hit after another. Senior
defensive back Caleb Kirk got into the action as well, throwing Concord’s Lawrence
Harris for a loss.
While plenty of gang tackles could
be found, Henry Faavesi played perhaps the most dominating role. The 6-foot-4, 260-pound
lineman recorded three tackles for losses.
The biggest loss has yet to come,
though.
“I love being a part of this
team,”Henry Faavesi said. “I haven’t been around more people who care about
each other than on this team.”
Salisbury’s players were
tired after the 31-10 loss to Ledford Friday night, and for good reason. Many of them went
both ways.
“We’re sitting there
with 20 players,” shrugged Salisbury coach Raymond Daugherty. “Next year, we
hope we don’t have that problem. It’s not what we’re doing, it’s just
we don’t have enough to do it with.”
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RUNTHEBALL: Salisbury had its best
running game against Ledford with 118 yards. Ken Drye led the way with 79.
“We’ve been wanting to
run the ball all year,” said Daugherty. “It has taken this much time with our
offensive line to get where they can.”
With a smile, he added, “But
the whole offensive line is back and we have some jayvees who can step in.”
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COMEONBACK:Ledford football coach
Dick Cline had just watched his team beat Salisbury when he turned his attention to
another Rowan County school, North Rowan.
The Cavaliers are playing East
Davidson next Friday for the third playoff berth in the Central Carolina Conference.
Ledford and High Point Central, both 5-0, will determine the 1-2 spots next week in High
Point.
When Cline was asked for a
scouting report on North-East, he said, “East Davidson is a powerful team. They run
the ball and they’re big up front. They can control the football and that’s what
they’re going to have to do to beat North Rowan.
“If they’re suspect,
it’s in the secondary because we hurt ‘em bad.”
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PRESIDENTMADISON: Salisbury faced
the same roadblock as everyone who plays Ledford: stop the CCC’s commander-in-chief
Madison Hedgecock.
The 6-foot-3, 240-pound monster
finished with 165 yards rushing, despite being sick to his stomach.
“He’s a load,” said
Ledford coach Dick Cline. “He’s powerful.”
Drye, who was in on 14 tackles,
said, “I’m a little tired, a little sore. But I had some help (tackling
Hedgecock) from T.J. Hosch and T.J. Johnson.”
“Hedgecock is right in
between (Ricky) Haywood of High Point Central and (Kamal)Watkins of North Stanly,”
Daugherty said. “There’s some good runners in this league — and I just wish
they’d leave.”
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Ronnie Gallagher, Steve Hanf and
Mike London contributed to this notebook. |
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