High school football: Action ramps up; special match in the North – Salisbury Post

by Mike London

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SALISBURY—This week, all of the Rowan County teams will have college football games scheduled for Thursday.

North Rowan decided to move up its big home game against Thomasville on Monday. Other district schools came to the same conclusion Tuesday as the weather forecast for Friday remained gloomy. Heavy rain is expected.

Other local games brought forward a day are West Rowan-South Rowan; Robinson-Carson; West Davidson-Salisbury and Northwest Cabarrus-East Rowan.

The season seems to have just begun, but homecoming has already begun in the East. Northwest is not an ideal homecoming opponent. The Trojans (3-1, 1-0) have been crushing teams the last few weeks after being stunned by coach Brian Hinson’s West Cabarrus team on opening night.

Northwest Cabarrus is shown as a 42-point favorite to extend East’s lead.

East (0-4, 0-1) has fallen short of expectations on the scoreboard — it has lost three straight shutouts — but it did improve somewhat last week against Concord.

East is 17-22 all-time against the Trojans. Northwest went 44-0 in 2023 and has won the last five meetings since East’s wet 8-0 win in 2016 behind Wesley Porter’s pick-six.

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The odds of an exciting matchup when West Rowan visits South Rowan are not great. The Falcons are 34-point favorites by Massey Ratings, and the Raiders (1-3, 0-1) are given a 3% chance of shocking the world.

The West (2-2, 1-0) won the matchup 54-28 in 2023 and has beaten the Raiders 20 straight since the South’s 31-24 overtime win in 2000. The last close South-West matchup was in 2014, when the Falcons won 21-13.

West’s Brant Graham ranks third in the county in passing yards (586). Jaylen Neely ranks second in the county in rushing yards (380) and Evan Kennedy ranks fourth in passing yards (313).

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In 2012, Carson’s KJ Pressley broke the school record for most yards receiving in a game with 241 yards against Robinson.

Nothing like that is expected this time against Robinson. Robinson (4-0, 2-0) is one of the elite teams in 3A and has swept four straight opponents, including two 4A neighbors.

The Bulldogs are 36-point favorites over the Cougars (2-2, 0-1), with Carson given a 1% chance of a surprise that will make headlines from North Carolina to the North Pole.

The Bulldogs have a 7-2 record against Carson and have won the last seven meetings, including 26-6 in 2023. Carson’s last win over the Bulldogs was in 2010.

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The match is not expected to be close at Ludwig Stadium, where the Salisbury Hornets will host West Davidson.

According to Massey ratings, Salisbury are 42-point favourites.

Coming off a big win over Thomasville, Salisbury (4-1, 1-0) is listed as having a 100 percent chance of winning, while the Green Dragons (3-1, 0-0) are off to a solid start despite a 35-0 rout of Ledford.

“West Davidson is not the most athletic team we’ll face, but they’re big and physical and they can handle the ball,” Salisbury coach Clayton Trivett said Tuesday. “They understand what they do best and they do it very well.”

West Davidson’s strong start under former South Rowan star Brian Billings will be tested. The Green Dragons face four teams over the next four weeks—Salisbury, Thomasville, Lexington and North Rowan—that have the speed to turn a football game into a track and field contest.

It’s worth noting that West Davidson beat three very good Salisbury teams three years in a row from 2005-07.

The first Salisbury-West Davidson meeting was in 1985. Salisbury leads the series 15–4, with the exception of a three-run win by West Davidson in 2015 by forfeit. The Hornets have won the last 12 games at home, including a 42–0 win in 2023.

Salisbury’s Hank Webb is second in the county in passing yards (886) and TD passes (11). He leads the county with nine field goals and 22 extra points (18 kicks and two runs). He’s a weapon in kicking and receiving.

Salisbury has two of the top three teams in receiving yards in the county with Jay’lin Johnson (339) and Macari House (316).

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The most excitement this week is expected to come from Thomasville’s trip to North Rowan.

The Cavaliers (3-2, 1-0) are a one-point favorite over the Bulldogs (2-3, 0-1). Massey Ratings give North a 52% chance of winning with a 28-27 score projection.

From a postseason perspective, this is a huge game as the Central Carolina Conference is a split 1A/2A league. The North-Thomasville winner will get the league’s top seed for the 1A playoffs.

North is getting healthier every day, especially at receiver, and quarterback Brian Alford is expected to return to linebacker this week. He was injured (left elbow) in the Forest Hills game, so the Cavaliers are resting him on defense, still getting all the QB plays.

Alford leads the county in passing yards (1,002) and TD passes (15) after breaking records with seven last week. Jo Jo Tarver is the county’s leading rusher with 576 yards. Emari Russell leads the county with 387 passing yards.

The North-Thomasville series dates back to 1958, when Spencer and East Spencer merged into North Rowan. Thomasville dominated the series until North pulled off a breakthrough win in 1981, and the Cavaliers beat the Bulldogs six times in nine meetings during the 1980s, when the rivalry burned with fierce intensity.

The programs didn’t meet often in the 1990s and 2000s, and North went 25 straight years without a win against the Bulldogs (1988 to 2013).

Thomasville beat the Cavaliers in 2021 and 2022 after returning to the CCC, but North pulled off a 16-12 win in 2023, one of the key nights of a great season.

Thomasville leads the series 16-10.

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AL Brown’s game at Lake Norman is still scheduled for Friday.

The series is 3-3. AL Brown won the first three games but the Wildcats won the last three, including a 24-21 win in 2023.

Lake Norman (3-1, 0-0) is coming off a big win over Marvin Ridge and is a 22 favorite in Greater Metro Conference play. The Wonders (3-1, 1-0) are given just an 11% chance of winning by the Massey Ratings, but they should have a better chance than that.

The Wonders beat Hickory Ridge last weekend after losing to the Bulls for three years. Lake Norman is better than Hickory Ridge, but the Wonders have a chance.