By Nick Bowton
nbowton@salisburypost.com
North Rowan quarterback Jesse Rudisell gave the ball to Vince Shropshire in the backfield on the first play from scrimmage, and Shropshire dropped back to pass.
Give North credit for being ambitious and creative despite the circumstances ó the Cavaliers entered the game winless against unbeaten Salisbury.
Ambition, however, didn’t get the Cavs very far Friday night.
That first play ended in a turnover, the next one ended in a Salisbury touchdown, and the game ended as the second-most lopsided in the history of this series: Salisbury 52, North Rowan 8.
“Before we came into this game, our coach told us to set the edge,” said Salisbury quarterback John Knox, who rushed for a game- and season-high 113 yards and two touchdowns. “So when we came out here, that’s what we had to do. We had to set the edge at the beginning of the game to let them know just because we’re 9-0 doesn’t mean we’re gonna take it light.
“We gotta come in here and play.”The Hornets (10-0, 6-0 CCC) displayed that attitude all night, from seldom-used senior Andrew Freidrich causing the first fumble to Knox’s decisions with the option attack to a season-high six forced turnovers.
North, meanwhile, had just 10 yards, one first down and a 31-0 deficit after a first half that looked like this: turnover, turnover, safety, turnover, punt, punt, turnover, punt.
“We need first downs,” said North coach Tasker Fleming, whose team got five of its six first downs on a third-quarter drive that produced a Darius Jackson touchdown run. “We’ve needed them all year to take pressure off the defense. It wears on you after a while ó short field for the defense and the offense just not moving the ball.”
After the Cavs (0-10, 0-6) fumbled on their first play, Knox scored from 11 yards out. Martin Hosch-Cathcart intercepted a pass on North’s fourth play, and the Cavs’ eighth play ended with a punt being snapped out of the end zone for a safety.
By halftime, Salisbury already had 235 of its 441 rushing yards. Knox scored both of his touchdowns in the first quarter and scrambled out of trouble to find Romar Morris for another score in the second.
“We ran the option well, and they didn’t take the quarterback,” Salisbury coach Joe Pinyan said. “You’re gonna turn somebody loose, and if we can find out who it is early, then we’re gonna exploit it.
“That’s what we did with John.”
Knox’s teammates in the backfield weren’t bad either.
Ike Whitaker, Dario Hamilton and A.J. Ford all rushed for touchdowns, and O’Bryan Graham, who starts on defense this season but started as a running back at North last season, capped the scoring with a 9-yard run.
Graham, a former quarterback, also saw his first action this season at that position.
“I was glad for him,” said Hosch-Cathcart, who intercepted two passes and now is tied for the county lead with five. “This was the first game he got to play quarterback, and that’s the position he wanted to play.
“But he’s still setting a tone for the defense.”
Graham didn’t have to last night. Freidrich took care of that on the first snap, and the Hornets rolled the rest of the way.
“The best news of the night is Andrew Freidrich is in there making a big play on that first turnover,” Pinyan said. “It made it pretty emotional over here on the sideline to see that.
“That’s a positive for our program when a kid that’s given us as many years as he has, not been able to start, goes in there on senior night and makes the big play and sets the tone.”