By Mike London

mike.london@salisburypost.com

Davie County High School coach Devore Holman had good things to say about East Rowan after the football teams got together for a scrimmage in Granite Quarry on Tuesday.

“Offensively, East Rowan can make it tough on you,” Holman said. “They got into a NASCAR package — extremely high tempo — and they got after us pretty good before we settled in. They’ve improved a lot since we saw them earlier this summer in a 7-on-7. It was good mixing it up with those guys.”
East Rowan coach Kenneth McClamrock said the Mustangs always want to be the team that does things differently than the rest of Rowan County.
“Last season we hung our hat on throwing the ball more than anyone else,” McClamrock said. “This year we probably won’t be throwing it as much, but we still want to find our niche. We want to do something different that our kids can get excited about, and it could be playing at a very fast pace.”
McClamrock said quarterback Tate Houpe and running back Keith Tillman shined offensively and added that jayvee running back Jonny Keaton was a major surprise.
East played without standout Max Wall, who had dental work on Tuesday.
“We executed pretty well offensively,” Holman said. “We only had one turnover.”
McClamrock said the Mustangs were led defensively by backs Wesley Porter and Bravon Goodlett.
That turnover was an interception by Goodlett, but McClamrock was impressed by Davie’s new quarterback Chris Reynolds.
“He’s a gunslinger,” McClamrock said. “He’s got a lot of zip.”
McClamrock said the Mustangs emerged from the scrimmage healthy. They’ll go to Richmond County today where they’re scheduled to scrimmage with Holly Springs, Wakefield and Jack Britt.

West Rowan
West Rowan scrimmaged against strong 4A clubs Charlotte Catholic, West Forsyth and Hough on Tuesday in Mount Ulla.
“The level of competition was high, but I thought we did well,” West coach Joe Nixon said. “We did some good things we can build on and we made some mistakes that we can take a look at on film and correct. The kids played hard and they competed and we came out of it healthy. I feel good about where we are.”

Salisbury
The Hornets scrimmaged Forest Hills and Northwest Cabarrus at Northwest.
“You just pray you come out healthy and we did,” Salisbury coach Ryan Crowder said.
Crowder said the Hornets’ defense, anchored by veterans D.J. Alexander and Darius Jackson, played with some passion.
“When we put one on those two guys on each side of the field, you kind of have to pick your poison,” Crowder said. “Defensively, we got after it pretty good.”
Salisbury has a very close quarterback competition ongoing. Crowder said Harrison Smith and Marcus Corry entered the scrimmage even, and while he hasn’t seen the film yet, they probably left it even.
“They got equal reps and both did some good things,” Crowder said. “We moved the ball well.”

Carson
Carson staged a jamboree and scrimmaged for three hours with East Wilkes, East Davidson and Anson County.
“We got a ton of reps in and we didn’t do bad,” Carson coach Joe Pinyan said. “It was a positive night, not terribly hot. We had a pretty good crowd and we had some fun.”
Pinyan said standouts for the Cougars included receiver Justin Copeland, safety Andrew Jerman, cornerback Brenden Westbrook and defensive lineman Ryan Bearden.
“Bearden was pretty relentless,” Pinyan said.
Carson played without running back Andy Lear (ankle).

Notes
North Rowan scrimmages at South Rowan tonight at 6 p.m.
Salisbury, South Rowan and Carson all will be in action in a scrimmage at Mooresville on Friday that starts at 5 p.m. Those scrimmages will basically be a half of live football, with the exception of the kicking game.