By David Shaw
dshaw@salisburypost.com
CONCORD ó Mother Nature wasn’t the only one bringing the heat Friday night.
K.P. Parks and his West Rowan teammates delivered a blazing fastball in a season-opening 54-0 victory at Central Cabarrus.
“We looked sharp in that first half,” coach Scott Young said after the Falcons began defense of their 2008 state 3A championship. “And unfortunately it came without one of our top players. We can’t ask anything from our kids other than what they gave us, with the exception of our kickoff coverage. That part was borderline horrible.”
Central Cabarrus had a few crowd-pleasing kick returns, but it hardly mattered. Neither did the absence of do-it-all senior Jon Crucitti, who watched the game from the West sideline. Parks ran for 228 yards and five touchdowns ó all in the first half ó while the West defense held the hosts to minus-28 total yards and zero first downs.
“We just want this year to be the same as last year,” right tackle Davon Quarles said. “We want a repeat. This was a good start.”
It was a magnificent start. West scored touchdowns on each of its first four possessions and built a 27-0 first-quarter lead. Parks got the first three scores, maneuvering downfield like he had a police escort.
“The offensive line was opening big holes, man,” he said. “Those guys all work hard in practice, and tonight it paid off.”
Parks and West quarterback B.J. Sherrill were receiving secret-service protection from linemen Rodney Cline, Jairahmai Robinson, Tim Pangburn, Charles Holloway III, Quarles and tight end Patrick Hampton. West totaled 405 yards, including 356 on the ground, before the game was stopped due to nearby lightning strikes with 10:26 remaining in the fourth period.
“I thought we were pretty good, but we’ve still got some work to do,” said Pangburn, a senior center. “We’ve got five offensive linemen and a tight end who want to work hard and want to get better. Coach (Joe) Nixon will make sure of that.”
Parks, now a solid 200 pounds, was the chief beneficiary. He added a pair of second-quarter touchdowns, the last following a Central turnover with less than a minute remaining in the first half.
“K.P. had a good night, but he had a lot of help out there,” Young said. “I’ve told people he’s a little bit bigger, a little big stronger, a little bit faster ó and he looked it tonight. He’s got a good line in front of him, and he ran well.”
Defensively, West was dominant. Central was forced to punt nine times and never penetrated deeper than the Falcons’ 20-yard line ó and that came after a long, adventurous kick return. But even that drive fizzled when West’s Ethan Wansley and Chris Smith teamed up for a jailbreak sack on the last play of the first half.
A running clock was used in the scoreless third quarter ó it stopped only on possession changes ó in football’s version of the mercy rule. Early in the fourth Mother Nature cleared her throat, and the game was stopped.
“It was a little rough without (Crucitti), but we’ll get him back next week,” Sherrill said after rushing for 63 yards and passing for another 40. “But as long as you’ve got No. 2, you don’t need much else.”
Parks was happy just to get into action.
“In practice I haven’t been bad, but I haven’t been K.P.,” he said. “Ask Young. He’ll tell you that in a heartbeat. This sort of brought me back. It wasn’t perfect, but we’ll take this any day.”
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NOTES: Trey Mashore and Josh Poe recovered fumbles. Emmanuel Gbunblee and Poe combined for West’s other sack, a 7-yard loss.