By Steve Huffman
shuffman@salisburypost.com
LANDIS ó South Rowan didn’t need a lot of time Friday to prove its domination over North Iredell.
One play did the trick.
On the game’s first snap, South quarterback Blake Houston handed to wide receiver B.J. Grant on an apparent reverse. But Grant pulled up and hurled downfield to Dylan Walker.
The pass wasn’t absolutely perfect ó Walker had to break stride just a hair ó but it didn’t miss by much. Walker pulled in the ball and went 80 yards for the night’s first score.
It was indicative of what was to come as South rolled to a 63-0 win.
“We put it in at practice this week,” Walker said of the play. “It was new. The coaches wanted to try something different.”
The game was as much a rout as the score indicated. South (5-2, 1-1 NPC) finished with 355 yards on the ground and another 101 in the air despite not throwing a pass in the second half.
North (1-5, 0-1) finished with minus-14 yards on 22 carries and just 28 yards in the air. North managed only one first down.
The score was 28-0 by the end of the first quarter and 49-0 by halftime. To say South substituted liberally in the closing quarters was an understatement.
“We talked about needing to come out tonight and make a statement after last week,” said South coach Jason Rollins, referring to last Friday’s 28-0 loss to West Rowan where the Raiders had hoped for a better showing. “We wanted to show we belong in this conference, that we can play with anybody. I told the boys to come out and play like they had a chip on their shoulders.”
It was pretty obvious from the get-go that South was more than a match for North. Thomas Lowe ran for 76 yards and three touchdowns on just six carries.
“We needed this big-time,” he said.
Lowe laughed when asked if the opening pass from Grant to Walker set the tone.
“B.J. threw a good ball and Dylan caught a good ball,” Lowe said. “The fans reacted. The O-line made it fun all night.”
D’Andre Harris led South in rushing, carrying nine times for 121 yards, including a 77-yard first-period sprint on which he was finally dragged down at the NI 2.
North’s deepest penetration came in the first half on a fumble recovery at South’s 47. From there, North went nowhere and punted.
One of South’s first-half scores came when Jacob Baker blocked a punt and Cadarreus Mason recovered in the end zone.
On another occasion, Quan Glaspy recovered a North fumble at North’s 10. It took just two plays for Blake Houston to carry in from the 5 and stake South to a 35-0 lead.
Rollins said that at halftime he reminded his team of one of the oldest rules of football.
“I said, ‘We’ve got ’em on the run, don’t do anything stupid,’ ” he said. “You always worry about injuries in a situation like that.”
South’s injuries were minimal, but Skylar Stamey was ejected after trading punches with a North player in the fourth quarter. The North opponent he squared off against was also tossed. Rollins said both players will have to sit out the next two games per state rules.
“Skylar apologized to the team,” Rollins said. “He knows he did something stupid, but losing him is going to hurt.”
Cadarreus Mason (who earlier recovered that blocked punt for a touchdown) had an interception for South as did teammate Trey House. Randy Maxwell and Justin Hall (who also had a fumble recovery) dominated the defensive line for South.
“This gets the bad taste of last week out of our mouths,” Rollins said. “The kids needed it, the fans needed it and the coaches needed it.”
South is off next Friday.