By Mike London
mlondon@salisburypost.com
MOUNT ULLA ó People came talkingabout running back K.P. Parks, but they left talking about West Rowan.
That was just fine with Parks, who got 10 carries and plenty of rest in a 60-0 romp over North Rowan on Friday.
“I thought it was great,” Parks said. “The important thing tonight was for the team to make a good first impression. And 60-0 makes a good impression.”
Parks rushed for 137 yards and two touchdowns, including a mind-blowing 70-yarder, but he was thrilled to share the night with West’s standard terrific blocking, a speedster in Trey Mashore who turned in two special-teams touchdowns and a ferocious defensive unit that held the Cavaliers to negative rushing yardage.
North was forced to punt nine times, and something disastrous happened on four of them. One never got off, one was blocked and West returned two that did get airborne to the end zone.
Mashore’s 35-yard punt return, which was aided by teammate Matt Bishop’s devastating block, opened the scoring with 4:24 left in the first quarter and got the Falcons energized after they had started sluggishly.
Marco Gupton added a 40-yard punt return for a TD and a 43-0 halftime lead.
“I know some people think we’re crazy, but we start on kicking the game the first day of practice,” West coach Scott Young said.
“Preparation paid off, and we had a tremendous night on special teams. Mashore is fast and surehanded, and our kicker did a nice job.”
He definitely did. Matt Turchin booted a field goal and was 7-for-7 on PATs. He also kicked off well ó and often.
It was the most lopsided setback in North’s proud history, finally taking a 53-0 loss to Asheboro in 1958 off the books.
West had 60 points with 4:12 left in the third quarter, so it showed some mercy. Parks carried only twice in the second half, and the Falcons threw just once after halftime.
The most one-sided win in West Rowan history remains the 63-0 victory over West Iredell in 1974, when West Iredell was a new school.
North, which lost to the Falcons for the seventh straight time, had a few positives. Cameron Mallett showed his track speed on kickoff returns, young quarterback Jesse Rudisell took a beating but showed plenty of guts, and Lathan Charleston made an early interception.
But West’s dominance on both lines was overwhelming. North had 17 first-half rushing plays (five were sacks) that resulted in losses or no gain.
“North has excellent athletes, but we did what we were supposed to do and kept containing them,” West lineman Kenderic Dunlap said. “We were all coming off the ball.”
Dunlap, Chris Smith and an under-the-weather Eli Goodson had huge games. Smith was in on three first-half sacks, and he destroyed running plays.
“The coaches told me to go full speed, and if I messed up to do it at full speed, and that’s what I did,” Smith said. “We realize we’ve got a lot of work to do, but I thought everyone performed very well.”
After Mashore’s punt return broke the ice and a two-point conversion made it 8-0, Parks broke his 70-yard score. He bounced to the left sideline and did a lot on his own once he zig-zagged his way into the secondary. Parks credited fullback Jeremy Melchor with a springing block on the play.
Parks’ other TD came during a burst on which the line opened a hole wide enough to accommodate a school bus.
B.J. Sherrill threw a TD pass to Brantley Horton in the second quarter, and Mashore ended any thoughts of North fighting back when he jetted 83 yards with the second-half kickoff.
“We had typical first-game problems with penalties and miscommunications, but I was pretty pleased,” Young said after West stretched its county winning streak to 26 games. “I liked our physicalness, and we were a team really for the first time. Offense cheered for the defense, defense cheered for the offense, and everyone cheered for the kicker.”