By Mike London
mlondon@salisburypost.com
KANNAPOLIS — It was such a physical mismatch that trickery seemed a little unfair.
But besides out-muscling and out-speeding South Rowan on Friday in a 62-6 romp, A.L. Brown’s Wonders hit the Raiders with a gimmick play that’s been dubbed “K-cubed.”
Or maybe it’s “K-kubed.”
“The kids came up with the name for it,” A.L. Brown coach Mike Newsome explained cheerfully. “It’s Keenan Medley to Keeon Johnson to Kalif Phillips — the three Ks.”
It was 28-0 in the second quarter when “K-cubed” was unveiled on a first-and-10 snap. The play was a double pass with QB Medley tossing sideways to the towering Johnson, who was still lurking behind the line of scrimmage.
Johnson, in turn, fired downfield to a speeding Phillips. He hit him in stride for an uncontested touchdown.
“We’ve been working on that, and, hey, that throw felt pretty good,” a beaming Johnson said. “I can throw a little.”
Newsome casually mentioned that the Wonders had more aces up their sleeves, but they backed off with the score mounting. Brown’s last points came when J.P. Lott galloped to the end zone with 2:23 left in the third quarter.
“We wanted to do a few more things and work on some things, but you’re kind of hampered a little bit when the score is out of hand like that,” Newsome said.
It was 21-0 after a quarter and 42-0 at halftime. When Brown broke a long scoring run for a TD with the score at 62-6, it appeared South would allow the most points it has ever surrendered in a football game, but a flag called the play back.
The 56-point margin still was South’s most lopsided loss ever to the Wonders in a series that’s been maintained continuously since South opened in 1961.
The previous most one-sided game was Brown’s 55-0 waltz in 2006. The Wonders won 63-12 in 2011.
Trailing 49-0, South got on the board early in the third quarter when Nathan Lambert connected with Drew Glenn on a 70-yard pass play.
“A.L Brown is good — and that’s an understatement,” South coach Jason Rollins said. “But I thought our kids showed up to play tonight. Even when it went bad, they kept on playing, and I was proud of that. It wasn’t a situation where we looked lost. We were a much better team than we were a week ago.”
South’s Lambert, Antonio Hester and Dominique Garlin made some effective runs for double-digit yards, but the Raiders (0-2) never sustained a drive.
Lambert threw for a net of 138 yards, but the Wonders pressured him into a 3-for-17 effort with a pick in the first half when it still mattered. Josh Medlin had four catches for 70 yards.
Sophomore linebacker Burke Fulcher played well for South’s defense and recovered a fumble.
Brown’s defense, which shut out Shelby in Week 1, was dominant.
Lott had the pick. Kendall Holmes, Hamp Brown and Hunter Allman had sacks. Shakil Gore, Josh Caldwell and Malik Fowler had tackles for loss.
“Our offense was able to control the ball and our defense played very well,” Newsome said. “The touchdown that they got we just lost focus, and that can happen when you’ve got a big lead.”
Offensively, the Wonders did what they wanted when they wanted.
Kalif Phillips blocked a punt, totaled 164 yards in rushes and receptions and scored three TDs as the Wonders (2-0) piled up 517 yards of offense.
Medley threw a scoring pass to Johnson. Erik Amaya kicked eight PATs.
A back named Pinkston — he answers to either Robert or Dante — ran for two scores. Ricky Sherrill, once the workhorse for South, did the heavy-duty work between the tackles and steamrolled for 91 yards on nine carries and scored a TD.
“We improved a little bit from our first game,” Johnson said. “What I liked is that even when we were up a bunch we kept on pushing.”