By Mike London
mike.london@salisburypost.com

ROBBINS — Hired in April as North Rowan’s new head football coach, Nygel Pearson had to wait until February for his first official game.

But now he’s 1-0.

North Rowan handled Yadkin Valley Conference opponent North Moore 36-0 on Thursday night, in a game moved up a day due to a nasty weather forecast that proved accurate.

“It was good to see guys running around,” Pearson said. “It was just good to get some live action against another team.”

North Rowan started slowly and didn’t score in the first quarter.

That wasn’t unexpected. Most of North Rowan’s skill players, including returning QB Kyree Sims, have been involved with basketball.

Defense is expected to be North Rowan’s strong suit, at least for a few weeks until the offense finds a rhythm.

“Our defense was outstanding,” Pearson said. “Just awesome.”

Outside linebacker Tsion Delaney led the defense with several tackles for loss.

“He got after the quarterback,” Pearson said. “Sacks and some pressures.”

Zay Davis, known mostly for defense, racked up the first touchdown of the season for the Cavaliers in the second quarter on a run of  8 yards. Davis is starting for the fourth season.

North took a 14-0 lead on a defensive score. North Moore’s quarterback was being sacked and his pass attempt was grabbed by 230-pound defensive lineman Ke’Shon Dollar, who turned it into a pick-six.

North tacked on three second-half touchdowns, with Sims scoring twice on the ground and Davis adding his second one.

North kicked two PATs. Davis and Sims had two-point conversions.

Sims completed 10 passes in 22 attempts and surpassed 100 passing yards and 100 rushing yards,.  Davis added 43 yards on seven carries.

Kendrell Goodes and Amari McArthur led the receiving corps. Goodes had two catches for 44 yards, while McArthur, a rangy sophomore, had three catches for 26 yards.

North Rowan has never lost to North Moore and is 8-0 all-time against the Mustangs. Scores were 54-7, 59-0 and 39-0 the previous three seasons.

This ikely will be the last meeting for quite a while. The schools will be in different conferences and different regions when realignment kicks in, in the fall of this year.

Next for North Rowan is a YVC home game against South Stanly.

South Stanly opened with a 58-12 romp on Thursday against South Davidson.