nTime: 7:30 p.m.
nRecords: North 1-3; South Stanly 3-1
nSeries: North leads 2-0
nLast meeting: Cavaliers shut out the Rowdy Rebel Bulls 12-0 in 2010
nLast week: North lost to Floridaís University Christian 28-15; South Stanly was unbeaten and ranked in 1A before it fell 26-21 to North Stanly, a program that had dropped eight straight games before stunning the Bulls.
nNext week: North is on the road at East Montgomery; South Stanly is home against Chatham Central
nGame notes: The YVC opener for two teams that expect to be in the top half of the league, along with Albemarle and West Montgomery.
As always, South Stanly has tremendous skill-position athletes. Javonde Gramling and Devonte Hamilton have taken turns running wild. Gramling had a monster game against West Stanly, rushing 17 times for 262 yards and five TDs.
Besides beating 2A West Stanly, South Stanly owns an overtime road win against 3A Mount Pleasant (23-20 in overtime) and routed 3A Parkwood at home. Gramling had 202 rushing yards against Parkwood.
On paper, South Stanly would appear to have a serious edge against offensively challenged North Rowan, but the Cavaliers have managed to beat South Stanly each of the past two seasons with their defense.
When it shut out South Stanly lin 2010, North recovered two fumbles, allowed just one pass completion and limited the Bulls to 30 net yards rushing. Gramling had 11 carries for 14 yards, while Hamilton had 10 for 29.
North was 0-4 when it shocked South Stanly 16-14 in 2009. North held South Stanly to 81 yards of offense in that one.
Maybe Northís defense, which includes DL Will Robertson and DB Kenyatta Thomas can do it again.