By Mike London
mike.london@salisburypost.com

SPENCER — Thomasville was a team that North Rowan senior back Jaemias Morrow had never had much success against.

The Bulldogs had buried Morrow in 2022, nine carries for minus 6 yards, the worst game of his career, and by stuffing Morrow, they had crushed the Cavaliers.

But Morrow ripped off four explosive plays against Thomasville recently and was the biggest difference-maker in an epic 16-12 win by the Cavaliers. It was a win that could elevate North’s season. It was a win that figures to make North the highest 1A finisher in the split 1A/2A Central Carolina Conference and one of the top seeds for the 1A playoffs.

“Jae carried us in the first half,” North coach Josh Sophia said.

On the third snap of the game, Morrow bolted 63 yards for the first touchdown of his life against Thomasville. That one felt good.

Sixty-three yards for the 63rd touchdown of his varsity career. That was appropriate.

“Got a pitch to the right, hit the hole and kept going,” Morrow said.

Thomasville became the 16th school to give up a TD to Morrow during his remarkable career.

Morrow had runs of 31 and 21 yards to set up North’s second touchdown.

When Thomasville scored late in the half to get within 13-12, Morrow had the answer. He returned the ensuing kickoff 50 yards to set up the North field goal by Daniel Montes Medrano that closed the first half and put momentum back on the Cavalier’s side at Cushwa Stadium.

There was no scoring in the second half, as the defenses took over. Morrow, who finished with 181 yards on 17 carries, also helped out North’s defense as a safety.

Morrow arrived on the North varsity late in his freshman year. He debuted with 116 rushing yards and two TDs against South Davidson. That was during the 2021 spring season that had been delayed for many months by the COVID pandemic.

Morrow romped for three touchdowns in a playoff game the next week and has never looked back.

“I just go out and play hard against everyone, no matter who it is,” Morrow said. “I run hard and I run strong.”

As a sophomore, Morrow had a consistent season, no monster yardage games, but seven games with 100-plus rushing yards and two games with four touchdowns.

As a junior, he accomplished mind-boggling things. He had a 240-yard rushing game and a four-TD game. He piled up rushing touchdowns and 2-point conversions, and he also scored on defense and special teams. He caught a TD pass. He scored on a fumble. He had two pick-sixes and three kickoff return TDs. He was the Post’s Rowan County Special Teams Player of the Year.

As a senior, the touchdowns haven’t come in flurries. but they’ve been steady. North played a challenging non-conference schedule against tough, athletic teams, so Morrow has put up solid, but not insane numbers.

But he’s continued to run hard and run strong. The Thomasville game was the latest example.

“I’ve watched film of most of Jae’s games at North,” said Sophia, the first-year head coach. “I know he’s had games with bigger numbers, but I can tell you the Thomasville game was the best one he’s ever played for North Rowan. He ran like a man possessed. He had some great runs for 2 yards. He had some great runs for zero yards. Jae has learned that you can’t hit a home run every time. He’s learned to take those short gains. We’re going to give him plenty of chances, and he’ll get his share of home runs just because of his talent level.”

With four 100-yard games this season, Morrow has 19 for his career.

Morrow surpassed 3,600 rushing yards for his career in the Thomasville game and has moved ahead of great backs recently on the county’s all-time rushing list — West’s Joe Jackson, Salisbury’s Dario Hamilton and Thomas Lowe, who toted the rock for East and South.

Entering Friday’s game at East Davidson, Morrow was about 400 yards away from cracking the all-time top 10 in the county. That top 10 list includes two North backs — JaReke Chambers (4,769 yards) and Malcolm Wilson (4,021).

Morrow has had his sights set on breaking Chambers’ school record for touchdowns (72) for some time now, but Morrow and Sophia aren’t dwelling on the pursuit of stats and records.

They’re all about the pursuit of wins. They figure that as long as the victories keep coming, then the records will happen.

“That’s absolutely the case,” Sophia said.

A couple of the Central Carolina Conference teams still remaining on the schedule have been two of Morrow’s favorites to run against.

The 5-foot-8 fireball has scored eight touchdowns in two outings against Lexington and six against West Davidson. Even against Salisbury’s stout defense, he’s totaled over 200 rushing yards in two games and one of his kickoff return TDs came against the Hornets.

“I want the team to finish strong,” Morrow said. “We beat Thomasville, the first time any us had ever beat them, so if we keep working hard, we can beat a lot of people.”