Archie coming on strong at the end

Published 12:00 am Wednesday, November 27, 2013

North football notebook …
SPENCER — North Rowan quarterback Alexis Archie produced his second-best game of the season in Friday’s 55-22 second-round playoff win against C.D. Owen.
He had season highs with 14 completions and four touchdowns (one short of the school record) and threw for 285 yards.
“He was getting the ball out quick and he was on target,” North offensive coordinator Ben Hampton said. “That’s the best he’s thrown the ball since the West Davidson game.”
Archie had 361 yards and three TDs against West Davidson in mid-October.
Archie explained that he had extra help getting prepared for Owen, and it came from a surprising source — ex- West Rowan quarterback B.J. Sherrill, who directed the Falcons to 3A state titles in 2008, 2009 and 2010.
“I worked with B.J. a lot, and there’s a whole lot I can learn from him,” Archie said. “He led his teams to championships, and I want to do the same thing.”

JAREKE UPDATE: What would a Friday night be without more spectacular plays from junior Jareke Chambers, who is having the greatest season ever by a North running back?
“You get the ball in Jareke’s hands and good things will happen,” Archie said.
Chambers caught passes Friday for the first time since opening night, and his two catches generated 102 receiving yards to go along with his 101 rushing yards.
Chambers has scored 31 touchdowns and also has one 2-point conversion for a total of 188 points. He’s two TDs away from becoming a 200-point scorer.
No Rowan County player had ever threatened to score 200 points in a single season until West’s Wade Moore scored 199 in 2005.
In 2007, West’s K.P. Parks scored 202, and Parks then raised the bar with 258 points in 2008, and then an unbelievable 356 points in 2009, a season in which he scored 59 touchdowns.
Salisbury’s Justin Ruffin put up 204 points in 2012.
Chambers has rushed for a school-record 1,938 yards this season, and his 3,108 career rushing yards rank third all-time at North.
Ahead of him are Darryl Jackson (3,128) and Mark Sturgis (3,259). Sturgis’ school record has stood since 1976.

MILESTONE: Junior Sakil Harrison went over 1,000 receiving yards for his career on Friday.
He’s the 13th player to have 1,000 receiving yards in a North uniform, joining a list of great receivers that includes Kendall Alley, Jeremiah Cauthen, Brandon Ford, Omar Robertson, Lathan Charleston, Tony Walker, Nick White, J.R. Neely, Alfonzo Miller, Dre Byrd, Ed Suber and Bryson Gaymon.
Lamont Savage and Chris Phillips also are among the county’s all-time leading receivers and were Cavaliers, but they had some of their yards at other schools.

DANDY DOZEN: North free safety Kasaun Coney has six interceptions this season and 12 for his career.
The late Adrian Davis holds the school and county records for a season and a career. Davis picked off 13 passes in 1994 and had 22 picks for his career.

McDIESEL: Linebacker Xavier Robinson, who has 140 tackles, leads North’s defense, but end Cecil McCauley also is having an extraordinary season.
McCauley blocked a punt Friday to add to his list of accomplishments.
A senior defensive end, McCauley has 9.5 sacks and 17 quarterback hurries and leads the team in tackles for loss.

SCORING MACHINE: North’s 55-point effort on Friday pushed the Cavaliers’ point production to 40.8 points a game.
The previous school record of 34 points a game (set in 1994) is certain to be broken, and while it figures to get tougher and tougher to score points now that everyone left in the 2A playoffs is very stout, the Cavaliers are on pace for the county record.
West’s 2009 team was the first in county history to average 40 per game when it scored 40.5 in 2009. Then West averaged 40.6 in 2010 to push the bar a bit higher.
Salisbury scored 40.1 points per game in 2011.

AUTEN-MATIC: Well, almost. North kicker Dylan Auten was 7-for-8 on PATS on Friday.
North’s record-breaking point production also has gotten a boost from the defense and special teams. Chambers has a kickoff return TD, Mike Robinson, Xavier Robinson and Xavier Partee have pick-6s, Kenyaun Coney has scored on a blocked punt and a fumble, and Kenyon Tatum scored on a fumble return.

TICKETS: North is pre-selling tickets for the upcoming game against Shelby at the school on Friday from 11 a.m.-2 p.m.
North last played Shelby in 2000. The Shelby preview will be in Friday’s edition.