SPENCER — The color remains the same.If Marcus Lawing does something wrong on the football field
this season, a referee will throw a yellow flag his way.
It might be for holding, or offsides — maybe
even an inadvertent facemask or two.
But it won’t be for hitting somebody.
North Rowan’s Lawing spent the 1998 fall
sports season playing soccer. His aggressive play created a bit of a stir at times and he
got a yellow card to go along with his 10 goals, but that was OK. Lawing knew he could hit
to his heart’s content come 1999.
“I was more aggressive than a lot of other
players, that made it easier,” Lawson said of his soccer days. “The refs would
always tell me to stop being so aggressive, don’t bowl people over. That’s how I
scored a lot of my goals — right before the goal keeper picked the ball up I’d
run him over.
“I like the contact more.”
That’s the main reason Lawson’s soccer
experiment ended after one season. He had a plan, and he stuck to it.
“When I was a sophomore I decided I wanted to play
football by the time I got to the 11th and 12th grades,” Lawing said. “I decided to play soccer to get in
shape. It helped a whole lot with my endurance, it got my speed up and my legs stronger.
“I don’t think I was ready for football.
I didn’t want to go out there and not be in the best shape I could be.”
Purity of purpose can be hard to find in sports,
from the pros to preps, but Lawing didn’t shy away from his goal of playing for the
Cavalier football team by his junior season. He’d been “recruited” by the
football coaching staff since his freshman year, but ignored the pleas from head coach
Roger Secreast and assistant Kelly Everhart.
The 6-foot-2, 180-pound defensive end only played
junior varsity basketball as a freshman and began to ponder his athletic future. Soccer,
he reasoned, could improve his stamina with all the running he’d be doing, so he
showed up last year for coach Vince Connolly’s first practice and went to work.
By the time basketball season rolled around,
Lawing’s soccer workouts paid dividends. Stronger, faster and equipped with better
footwork, he averaged six points a game and dominated on the offensive and defensive
backboards in his first season on the varsity team.
More importantly, his friends on that team —
Andre Byrd, Mario Sturdivant, Jermaine Miller and Marcus Reddick — pushed for Lawing
to join then under Secreast.
Lawing said he would, but the North football coach
didn’t count on it.
“I was skeptical. I had to see it to believe
it,” Secreast said. “Then, even though
we knew how tough he was in basketball, we were wondering how he would do with contact,
and he answered that the first day. He stepped up and had courage and didn’t back
down from anybody. He hit somebody.”
The Cavaliers took a hit from Class 4A-power
Scotland County, opening the season with a 20-12 loss. Week 2 offered another tough
opponent in a game with a great deal of emotion, and after county rival East Rowan rallied
to take a 21-20 lead in the fourth quarter, North Rowan turned the “Law Dog”
loose.
“The team was falling behind and I said to
myself, ‘I’ve got to make something happen, I’ve got to get the crowd
going,’” Lawing said. “They called one of
my plays and I wasn’t going to miss an opportunity like that.
In fact, defensive coordinator Chris Sifford
called Lawing’s number twice. On the first corner blitz, Lawing sacked East
quarterback Raymondo Brady for a 3-yard loss. That left the Mustangs staring at
third-and-14, and as Lawing slammed Brady to the turf for the second straight time, nine
more yards behind the line of scrimmage, the momentum began to change and North’s
fans took their support to another level.
“There’s nothing like coming out on the
field on a Friday night with the crowd cheering,” Lawing said. “It felt good. I knew after that it was
over.”
It was.
North rallied for the 26-21 win. Lawing ended the
game with 21
“We saw a lot of flashes of him being an
awfully good player,”
Secreast said. “He
still has things to learn, but he’s got ability, and sometimes athletic ability can
override those mistakes.”
That’s exactly how Lawing mapped it out two
years ago.
“I’m glad this was part of his master
plan, that we were involved in it,” Secreast
said with a laugh. “Although I’m sure the soccer coach isn’t too happy with
me.”
“They did take away a real good kid that all
programs like to have,” Connolly
said resignedly. “As much as we’ll miss him as a starter, we’ll miss him
more as a real likeable soul.”
On that, the competing coaches can agree.
“He’s a fine character kid and a good
student. You’ll never hear any teachers say anything negative about him,” Secreast said. “Character is as important as being an
athlete, that helps in anything you do.”
No matter what sport it is. |
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