Common Sense picks were a horseshoe-in-both-pockets 7-0 last week, benefiting from wounded West Rowan’s comeback against even more battered Statesville and Davie’s fortunate win against Thomasville that was decided by the length of a substitute DB’s fingers.
Common Sense gives credit to Salisbury for taking care of business in a cakewalk and salutes East Rowan for making things a lot more interesting than expected at Carson.
On the down side, North Rowan made things far less interesting than expected against South Stanly — seriously, 34-0? — while South Rowan hung around just long enough to create a buzz before being blown away 47-15 by West Iredell.
West Iredell, by the way, scored four TDs in the final five minutes — all through the air. No judgments here, but that’s unusual.
Conference races have begun in earnest in the NPC, YVC and SPC, so we’ll offer a for-what-it’s-worth opinion on all. The six-team CCC and CPC have to wait one more week to start league play.
It’s a magical night in the county if you value football history, with Salisbury honoring three WNCHSAA championship teams from the 1970s and South toasting an entire decade of winning teams from its graduating classes of the 1980s.
Those three Pete Stout-coached Salisbury teams were part of a dynasty that owned the county a long time. Boyden started it — Salisbury, as the school was known starting in 1971 — kept it rolling along.
Stout’s Boyden and Salisbury teams did most of the heavy lifting in a long county winning streak, going 26-0-2 (the ties were with North) from 1966-75.
The school also had a few more wins on either side of the Stout years.
The 1965 Boyden team, coached by Ken Bumgarner, won its only two county games, beating North and South.
The 1976 Salisbury team, coached by Ray Wilson, won its only two county games vs. East and North.
The final win in that county streak came opening night in 1977 when Salisbury beat East 14-9. That made it a 31-0-2 stretch — 33 county games without a loss.
Thirteen years after South beat Boyden in 1964, North finally ended that streak with a stunning upset of the Hornets in 1977.
It’s fitting that while South celebrates its finest football era tonight, its opponent will be the new bully on the block — West Rowan.
While West’s county run hasn’t yet matched the Boyden/Salisbury streak for duration, it already has broken the record as far as the number of consecutive county games played without defeat.
West beat Salisbury in 2010 for its 34th county win in a row and beat the Hornets again this season to extend the current streak to 38.
West’s streak has passed its 10th birthday. The last county loss was to North in Week 3 of the 2001 season.
Hats and helmets off to the Pete Stout Era and the Scott Young Era. In a way, they finally intersect tonight.
The picks:
Salisbury 28, Carson 14
Right now, the Hornets look like the county’s best bet for a long playoff run.
West 42, South 15
Not that the three-time 3A champs aren’t good. They still could roll through the county and the NPC.
W. Iredell 39, E. Rowan 10
A team with an overload of firepower against a team with very little.
E. Montgomery 8, North 6
While North has beaten East Montgomery badly the past two seasons, it doesn’t make any sense to pick the Cavs until they show that they can score.
A.L. Brown 35, Central 14
Wonders have never lost to Central Cabarrus and probably never will.
Davie 31, Hibriten 15
Things are bouncing Davie’s way right now.
YVC: Albemarle 17, W. Montgomery 13; S. Stanly 52, Chatham Central 0; S. Davidson 20, North Moore 7NPC: Statesville 27, N. Iredell 7
SPC: Concord 42, Robinson 20; Cox Mill 21, Hickory Ridge 14; NW Cabarrus 20, Mt. Pleasant 10.