Informed that for the first time in the 2012 season Common Sense would be picking the East Rowan Mustangs to win a football game, coach Danny Misenhiemer grunted his disapproval.
He groaned while seated in the solitude of his locker-room office, but his dismay was loud enough that they heard him in every barber shop in Granite Quarry and Rockwell.
“Ah, now don’t be doing that,” Misenheimer pleaded. “We like being the overlooked and the doubted. We don’t ever want to be picked. I don’t think we’ve been picked in three years.”
Sorry, Coach. East is picked to be a winner occasionally, and this time it really can’t be helped. You beat Carson by 20. West Iredell lost to South Rowan by a bundle. You’ll beat West Iredell unless you fumble a half-dozen times.
“We’re doing everything in our power to hold onto the football,” Misenheimer answered, as he knocked on his wooden desk. “Without the fumbles, we could be 4-1 instead of 2-3.”
East held on to the football and looked good Friday on both sides of the ball.
It’s true special teams were an issue, but, hey, nobody’s perfect.
While East did indeed enter Week 5 as a program of the overlooked and the doubted, that’s probably no longer the case. Statistically, except for the fumbles, the Mustangs are sound. Don’t look now but East leads the county in total offense. The Mustangs are second in rushing yardage and third in passing. Backs Calvin Edwards and Madison Hedrick and receiver Jordan Phillips are legit big-play threats.
“East has explosive kids,” Carson coach Mark Woody said after Friday’s 27-7 loss to the Mustangs.
East trains somewhat differently than most. Mustangs don’t do a lot of bench-pressing. They flip tires and swing sledgehammers and jump around a lot.
It seems to be working. They’re more athletic than they used to be, more athletic than they get credit for.
It’s not hard to see East winning at least five, and that’s three more than Common Sense had the Mustangs penciled in for in August.
“I’m not saying we’re good – it may take three more years for us to be good,” Misenheimer said. “But these kids have really worked, and we’re decent. We’re a better team now than we were five weeks ago.”
After two solid weeks, the picks were fumbled in Week 5. East had something to do with that. So did South Rowan. So did Statesville. Apologies to all.
Undaunted, Common Sense presses forward with more guesses:
East Rowan 35, West Iredell 14
Only really serious football fans could last more than three rounds in a game of “Name a Mustang,” but it’s hard to see how things could go wrong tonight.
West Rowan 42, South Rowan 14
Chipper Jones was a kid and gas was cheap the last time the Raiders won in Mount Ulla.
Salisbury 28, Carson 17
Might be a better game than people think. Depends on how Salisbury handles a week layoff.
North Rowan 47, East Montgomery 12
There aren’t many 1A schools that can deal with the Cavaliers.
A.L. Brown 42, Central Cabarrus 20
Central is O-for-forever against the Wonders.
Davie 34, Hibriten 14
Did you know Davie was 4-0 on the road? Did you know Davie has outscored opponents 156-34? Pencil in Cade Carney for 200 yards. Only West Rowan has stopped him.