By Mike London
mike.london@salisburypost.com

SALISBURY — Summarizing the 2023 high school football season was a task as challenging as trying to wrap a Christmas tree.

There’s no doubt this is an era of surging, massive, staggering offensive numbers.

North Rowan allowed 24 points per game this season. There was a time when allowing 24 per game would get you a 3-7 or 2-8 record, but those days are behind us.

The Cavaliers scored 33 per game and went 11-3.

South Rowan and East Rowan both allowed more than 40 points per game.

Even West Rowan allowed 37 points per game, the most ever allowed by the young men in light blue. A brutal non-conference schedule and two games with high-powered Northwest Cabarrus made the numbers sky-rocket.

With stats climbing at an extraordinary rate, the Post’s record books for Salisbury and North Rowan passing, rushing and receiving became obsolete. They have been almost completely rewritten during the past two seasons.

Salisbury seniors Mike Geter and Deuce Walker now dominate the aerial aspect of the school record book for the Hornets, who preferred to pound on the ground for countless decades. JyMikaah Wells broke school rushing records in 2022. Then Jamal Rule came along in 2023 and gave most of Wells’ marks a very short shelf life.

North Rowan senior back Jaemias Morrow broke two major school records in 2023, while North’s junior quarterback Jeremiah Alford continued his march toward history.

Alford already has produced more yards of total offense (rushing plus passing) than anyone in county history except West Rowan legend KP Parks. Parks’ county total offense record — nearly 11,000 yards — is all rushing. Alford, who now is at 7,681 yards, and counting, probably can’t catch Parks, but he will leave quite a legacy at North.

NORTH ROWAN

Start with Morrow, who had an amazing finishing kick.

Morrow had a strong regular season, but then he broke loose for humongous numbers — three straight 200-yard games — in North’s three playoffs wins. He had 1,906 rushing yards for the season, with 743 coming in the playoffs. He scored 11 of his 24 touchdowns in the playoffs.

That furious finish propelled Morrow to a school-record 80 career touchdowns scored and he was able to edge Jareke Chambers for North’s career rushing record.

Morrow finished sixth on the all-time county list with 4,795 rushing yards. Chambers drops to seventh with 4,769.

• Alford, who has been the starting quarterback since Day 1 of his freshman season, broke the school total offense record that had stood for a generation. Mario Sturdivant had set the mark in 1999.

Sturdivant is still at the top of the leaderboard for passing yards in school and county history.

Alford is sixth in the county in career passing yards (5,304), but he also has 2,377 rushing yards, a huge number for a quarterback. He has a reasonable chance to rush for 3,000 before he’s done.

Alford has thrown 60 touchdown passes and is closing in on the school and county records. Sturdivant threw 65 for the North record. East Rowan’s Samuel Wyrick holds the county record with 74 TD passes.

Alford also has 37 rushing TDs, so he’s only three TDs away from accounting for 100 for his career.

Alford and Morrow were even more special than it looks like. They both play defense for the Cavaliers.

• North linebacker Khor’on Miller was credited with breaking North’s single-season record for tackles. He had 179.

• North receiver Amir Alexander didn’t break any records, but he had one of the better pass-catching seasons in school history with 889 receiving yards and 11 TD catches.

SALISBURY

Shrine Bowler and Georgia State signee Deuce Walker broke every Salisbury receiving record for a season and a career.

Walker had 53 catches for 714 yards and 10 TDs as a senior. He finished his career with 111 receptions for 1,827 yards and 25 TDs.

He was one of 15 players in Rowan County history to make 100 or more receptions.

• Mike Geter, a Shrine Bowler who quarterbacked three very strong Salisbury teams, was Mr. Consistency. He had three straight seasons with between 2,100 and 2,200 yards of total offense and he also had significant rushing yards as a freshman when the Hornets had Vance Honeycutt at quarterback. Geter finished with 6,643 yards of total offense, a school record. He is sixth in county history in total offense.

Geter is also the Salisbury record-holder for career passing yards (4,409) and career TD passes (53). He accounted for 105 touchdowns in a great career. He had 52 rushing TDs.

• Jamal Rule’s story may have only just begun. The junior running back turned in one of the top five rushing seasons in county history — 274 carries, 2,712 yards, 36 touchdowns. That’s 9.9 yards per carry with a lot of carries.

Rule broke Wells’ school rushing record for a season. His 360-yard game against North Rowan shattered the Salisbury single-game record. He also had three receiving touchdowns and established a school record for TDs in a season with 39.

Rule did the bulk of the ball-carrying for Salisbury in two games his sophomore year when Wells was hurt, and he now has 3,435 career rushing yards.

• Bennie Howard’s eight interceptions — two more than Geter had — were a highlight for a Salisbury defensive unit that allowed fewer than 10 points per game.

Jaden Warren had 20 sacks.

WEST ROWAN

While no offensive records were set by the Falcons in 2023, junior Evan Kennedy put himself in position to break some next season.

Kennedy led the county in receptions (57) and receiving yards (975) in West’s 11-game season. He has 97 career catches for 1,665 yards.

Jaylen Neely had 1,234 rushing yards and 16 TDs in his first varsity season. QB Brant Graham threw for 1,550 yards as a sophomore, so he could be challenging some school records down the road.

Aubree Robinson accomplished the rare feat of kickoff and punt return touchdowns in the same game against Central Cabarrus.

CARSON

While 200-yard rushing games became almost routine in 2023, 300-yard games are still quite scarce.

Carson’s Jay McGruder joined the 300-yard club in the season-closing win against South Rowan. There have been 14 300-yard games in county history, including four by Carson Cougars.

McGruder also surpassed 1,000 yards for the season in that game.

SOUTH ROWAN

Landon Richards played in only eight games but had 1,096 rushing yards. He got 553 of them in the South Piedmont Conference wins against East Rowan and Central Cabarrus.

Richards was South’s first 1,000-yard rusher since Thomas Lowe in 2009.

Brooks Overcash became the first South QB to throw for more than 1,000 yards in back-to-back seasons, and the junior will have a chance to make it three in a row in 2024. He has thrown 25 touchdown passes.

Jadon Moore turned in a versatile season with six TD catches, a kickoff return TD, three field goals and 10 PATs. He also handled kickoff and punting duties.

EAST ROWAN

AJ Goodman finished fifth in East Rowan history with 87 receptions. He finished one behind Ben DeCelle.

Ti’Jon Everhart led East in rushing yards and was second in passing yards and receiving yards.