Staff report

CARY — Clayton Trivett’s first win as Salisbury’s head football coach didn’t come easily, but the Hornets did enough to beat Green Level 34-12 on the road on Friday.

“Still some kinks we need to work out,” Trivett said. But we showed  a lot of improvement from Week 1. We are headed in the right direction.”

Green Level (0-2) isn’t known for football but it is a 4A school with some athletes and some size and the Gators had the backing of enthusiastic fans on their home field, known as “The Swamp.”

Mike Geter had two passing touchdowns and two rushing touchdowns to lead the Hornets (1-1). He bounced back nicely from a shaky opening game against West Rowan and appeared to be back to being the Geter of 2021, spinning around defenders or bulling through them.

After one offensive snap, the Hornets had one more pass completion than they managed in Week 1. Geter hit Deuce Walker for a decent gain, and both highly regarded junior standouts were ready to go.

Geter hit Walker and Hank Webb with deep strikes for touchdowns, as the Hornets took a 13-0 lead, while Salisbury’s defense, led by linebacker Amare Johnson, contained Green Level’s offense.

But Green Level got on the board suddenly just 24 seconds before halftime when Gavin Jones hit Carter Devereaux behind the Salisbury secondary to make it a 13-6 game at the break.

Then it was 13-12 after Green Level scored through the air early in the third quarter. Again, it was Jones to Devereaux.

Geter lost a fumble on Salisbury’s next possession, and that was the moment of truth for the Hornets. They had to have a stop – and got it. Johnson made the key play, destroying a screen for a loss.

After Green Level punted, Geter scored on a 7-yard run with 4:04 left in the third quarter, and Webb’s PAT  made it 20-12.

Green Level stayed within one score until Geter turned a third-and-long into a wild, bobbing and weaving touchdown run from 19 yards out with 6:32 left to play. That improvised TD lifted the Hornets out of danger.

They would tack on one more score, with JyMikaah Wells getting the 51st TD of his career from the 3-yard line with 3:53 left to play.

Geter threw the ball only once in the second half, but totaled 158 passing yards to go with his 95 rushing yards. Walker had three catches for 106 yards.

Wells had a quiet first half, but the bruising back carried most of the load in the second half. He was a truck rolling downhill. He got 137 of his 173 rushing yards after the break.

Salisbury           7   6   7   14   — 34

Green Level      0   6   6    0   — 12

S — Walker 80 pass from Geter (Webb kick), 10:28, 1st

S — Webb 52 pass from Geter (PAT failed), 8:16, 2nd

GL — Devereaux 61 pass from Jones (PAT failed), 0:24, 2nd

GL — Devereaux 27 pass from Jones (PAT failed), 7:51, 3rd

S — Geter 7 run (Webb kick), 4:04, 3rd

S — Geter 19 run (Webb kick), 6:32, 4th

S — Wells 3 run (Webb kick), 3:53, 4th

Green Level stats

132 passing, 130 rushing, Symon Sadler 20-for-83

Salisbury stats

Rushing: Wells 21-173; Geter 11-95

Passing: Geter 4-for-7, 158, 2 TDs

Receiving: Walker 3-106; Webb 1-52