Roaming the county getting ready for tonight …
Amidst all the hoopla of Joe Nixon and Danny Misenheimer winning their first-ever games as head coaches at North Rowan and East Rowan, another impressive victory was shoved to the side last week: West Rowan’s 21-14 victory over 4A Mooresville.
West, which has been to four straight 3A state title games, isn’t used to being shoved to the side, but Falcons coach Scott Young says he understands it.
“The East Rowan Mustangs deserve a lot of credit,” Young chirped. “Nixon and the Cavaliers deserve a lot of credit. But our kids don’t need to be overlooked because that was a big win for us. We really got our 2012 football season off on the right foot.”
Mooresville, the 4A team that ended West’s nation’s-best 46-game win streak in 2011, marched into West’s stadium and was thwarted by a stout defense. The Blue Devils scored on the opening kickoff and with 25 seconds left. In between, nothing.
“It wasn’t two county teams playing so we didn’t get all that hoopla,” Young smiled. “From a statewide perspective, that game was bigger in a lot of people’s eyes. Not from the county. You know how people are about these intra-county games. You’re crazy about them.”
•
Young said he was like many area fans when he heard East Rowan had beaten Salisbury and North had upended Carson.
“I think we were like everybody else,” he said. “We were truly shocked when we heard the results. But good for those young coaches. That’s awesome. Nothing against those other guys, but that was real impressive on the new coaches’ part.”
•
Salisbury’s loss to Misenheimer’s Mustangs was the biggest surprise of last week. Now, Joe Pinyan’s Hornets must face the other new coach, Nixon, and North.
“They’re going to be mean and hungry because they won their first one,” Pinyan said. “What we need to do is get on the field and play and get that taste out of our mouths.”
• West has another big 4A test tonight at Davie County. As well as the Falcons’ defensive line played, it will be tested by a War Eagle offensive line with future ACC players coming at them.
• North at Salisbury will be the only game in the county tonight.
East has to go from stopping the wishbone to stopping a powerful passing attack at Concord. A.L. Brown will play host to South Rowan and Carson is at Northwest Cabarrus.
• Nixon and Misenheimer weren’t the only coaches at a new school with an opening night win.
Here’s how some of our former Rowan coaches did last week:
• Former East Rowan coach Will Orbin, now at Holly Springs, started with a 29-14 victory over Wake Forest Heritage.
• Daniel Crosby debuted as defensive coordinator at Central Cabarrus and the Vikings ripped his alma-mater, South Rowan, 66-31.
• Former North Rowan coach Avery Cutshaw, now deep in the western N.C. mountains at 1A Andrews, fell to Cloudland, Tenn.
• Former Salisbury assistant J.K. Adkins lost his first game at East Wilkes to West Davidson.
• On the air …
• WSTP 1490-AM will be covering North Rowan at Salisbury with Hall of Famer Howard Platt and sidekick Wilson Cherry.
• WSAT 1280-AM will be at all Salisbury games this season, led by anchor Mark Loman, color man Glenn Taylor and sideline reporter Jeff Vail.
• WRNA 1140-AM with the “Commissioner of High School Football” Carl Ford will be calling the South Rowan at Kannapolis game.
Go to a game tonight, folks. And be nice.
•
Contact Ronnie Gallagher at 704-797-4287 or rgallagher@salisburppost.com.

---

Want to Tweet about the games?  Use this hashtag #pigskinSP
Follow Us on Twitter @SPAthleteofWeek or @SalPostSports