TheCavaliers overcame a slow start and Salisbury’s first first-quarter touchdown of the season to score a 30-12 win in Ludwig Stadium. In the end, the North passing combo of Mario Sturdivant to Alfonzo Miller proved too much for the Hornets to overcome in the 2A Central Carolina Conference opener for both teams.

North improved to 2-3 overall, while Salisbury dropped to 0-6.

“This game is always scary, it never works out the way I plan for it to,”North head coach Roger Secreast said. “I’m just glad to win, we haven’t done that in a long time.”

But theCavs’ biggest rival was ready for the North Rowan attack and shocked nearly everyone in the stands by scoring first. After Salisbury’s opening drive stopped at the 6-yard line on an interception, the Hornet defense forced a punt that went for 14 yards. Salisbury quarterback Terry Johnson found Justin Johnson at the goal line from 22 yards out on the next play, and the Hornets led 6-0.

“After the first pass I told them if they gave me the time I’d get the completion,”Terry Johnson said. “I figure that first drive really motivated us.”

The Hornet defense was equal to the task again, as Ken Drye intercepted Sturdivant on North’s next series. Another bad Cavalier punt a series later helped Salisbury start another drive, and that’s where the first big momentum swing hit.

Terry Johnson dropped back to pass on third-and-6 from midfield early in the second quarter and threw a strike between two defenders to Michael Blount. The ball dropped off Blount’s hands, losing what was a sure first down and potential touchdown, and Salisbury dropped back to punt.

Except that the snap went soaring over Patrick May’s head for a 32-yard loss. Two plays later, North tied the game on Jamel Alexander’s 1-yard plunge.

“The mark of a good football team is not to make a lot of mistakes,”Salisbury head coach Raymond Daugherty said. “We gave them one score in the first half and we kept one score off the board. If we had been ahead at halftime instead of behind it would have been an entirely different game.”

The Hornets began to deflate ever so slightly, though, punting after three plays on their next series and watching Sturdivant lead the Cavs on a touchdown drive that ended with a 14-yard pass to Chris Phillips for a 12-6 edge.

Then things got real bad for Salisbury.

The Hornet defense made a series of great plays as North marched down field on its first series of the second half, sacking Sturdivant to force a fumble — that was recovered by the Cavs — then forcing Sturdivant to make a tough throw to the end zone that Hornet Kelvin Spivey raced in to deflect — straight up into Miller’s waiting arms for a 39-yard TD.

Down 18-6 but not out, Terry Johnson took the Hornets back to the end zone on the strength of a 27-yard strike to Gromyko Walker, following the pass with a 4-yard keeper for an 18-12 score.

North immediately answered, though, scoring on a 17-yard Alexander run in the final minute of the third quarter.

“Last week against Davie County we played 23 minutes (in a 34-6 loss), and tonight I think we played about 35-36 minutes,”Daugherty said. “We’re gaining on it, we’re doing a little better job offensively, we just can’t make any mental errors.”

The final errors came in the secondary, as Miller shook loose on a 38-yard strike for a 30-12 lead and another 45-yarder in which he was ruled down at the 2. The big fourth quarter helped Miller finish with five catches for 141 yards.

“They were hanging with us until we brought out the real stuff,”Miller said. “Salisbury’s a good squad, they just made some mistakes sometimes.

“They were telling me to go deep and Mario did his thing,”Miller added on the scores. “I’d run slow for a second, then sprint up the field, they’d think I wasn’t going to do anything.”

Miller’s performance was crucial for the Cavs, minus a suspended Andre Byrd. North’s top receiver was out of school for disciplinary action.

“You just had to make the big play, the team that made the big play was going to win this game,” Justin Johnson said. “We knew they were going to him (Miller) with Byrd out, we just didn’t stop him.”

North Rowan’s defense did.

“Two big plays for them and they would have been close to us,”Cav offensive and defensive lineman Jarrett Wishon said. “The defense stepped up. I was glad our defense hung on.”

And that Salisbury still has a few ifs, ands and buts to work out.

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