By Mike London
mike.london@salisburypost.com

SALISBURY — The Post is frequently dependent on football coaching staffs for stats these days.

If we didn’t see it live, weren’t able to watch it on demand on NFHS or weren’t able to follow the action on WSAT radio, then the stats that go into the record book as official are the stats that the Post receives from coaches.

South Rowan head coach Chris Walsh is a media dream. Rain or shine, win or lose, good, bad or ugly, Walsh promptly posts the Raiders’ stats each week on MaxPreps. He makes life easy.

Most Rowan football coaches decline to post stats on MaxPreps — why should they furnish opponents with an easy scouting report is the basic reasoning  —  but they definitely do keep up with the stats. When they go to the all-conference meeting to fight for their guys, they’ve got to have the stats to back them up.

West Rowan coach Louis Kraft doesn’t post the Falcons’ stats for all the world to see, but he’s always cooperative and eager to help the Post keep track of things for the record books. There was a time when he was a tight end for the Falcons and he certainly wanted every catch he made to be counted. Now he wants his guys to have their feats accurately recorded for posterity.

But there was a West game this season that provided obstacles. Getting the West stats from the South Rowan game proved an elusive task for several weeks. We knew they were good stats because the Falcons, fueled by a fourth-quarter flurry, scored 61 points in that game.

Kraft finally got a chance to sit down and watch the film recently, and the stats came in to the Post via text on Tuesday of this week.

As expected, they were good stats. Actually, they were great stats. The stat that leaps off the page is Evan Kennedy’s 243 rushing yards against the Raiders. That means Kennedy has put up a 200-yard rushing game and a 200-yard receiving game in the same season. That’s wild.

Kennedy is in an unusual situation at West. He’s deadly as a slot receiver and he makes quarterback Lucas Graham much tougher to control whenever he’s in a receiving role. But due to an injury to Landon Jacobs, West opted to use Kennedy as its primary ballcarrier in three games.

So Kennedy’s seasons stats are some of the most unique you’ll ever see — 646 rushing yards and 608 receiving yards. He’s got nine TDs rushing and nine TDs receiving. He’s got one more touchdown on a kickoff return.

Jacobs is healthy now, so Kennedy figures to be used mostly a receiver moving forward.

The addition of Kennedy’s 200-yard rushing game to the list gives us seven 200s this season by Rowan runners. There was a time when you got seven 200-yard games per decade, but teams run more plays now and a lot of defenses just aren’t very good. The studs are galloping merrily for 200, even with running clocks.

Salisbury’s JyMikaah Wells, not surprisingly, owns three 200-yard games this season. Other 200s have been posted by North back Jaemias Morrow, Salisbury back Jamal Rule, who got the carries when Wells was hurt, and Salisbury quarterback Mike Geter.  You can count on one hand all the 200-yard rushing games by QBs in Rowan County history, but Geter is strong and shifty.

While we’re on the subject of stats inflation, there have been just 31 300-yard passing games in Rowan County history. West’s Graham accounted for the 30th and the 31st in back-to-back weeks, and he didn’t pick on weak teams. Both of his huge passing nights came against 4A opponents.

The Central Carolina Conference champion Hornets, winners of eight in a row, are off this week, which drastically reduces the excitement level in the county, but they’ll be back next week to take on rival North Rowan. Salisbury is eighth in the NCPreps statewide poll for 2A, but only ninth in the NCHSAA’s RPI rankings for 2A West.

Most of the monsters in 2A reside in the West.

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North Rowan (5-3, 2-2) at Lexington (2-6, 2-2), 7:30 p.m.

North is No. 12 in the 1A West RPI rankings and is working for a first-round home game in the playoffs.

The Cavaliers scored 50 last week and should have way too much firepower for Lexington to deal with.

QB Jeremiah Alford has accounted for 22 touchdowns. Jaemias Morrow has 877 rushing yards. Amari McArthur has really picked up his pace in recent weeks and has 37 catches for 548 yards and eight TDs.

North routed Lexington 66-28 last fall and leads the all-time series 27-16, but the Yellow Jackets beat North as recently as 2019.

•••

East Rowan (0-8, 0-4) at South Rowan (1-7, 0-4), 7 p.m.

Statistically speaking, it’s a resistible force against a movable object, but it still should be interesting.

Both teams desperately need a victory — East hasn’t won, while South hasn’t won since August —  so it’s definitely going to be hard-fought.

South is coming off its open week and is higher in the NCHSAA’s RPI rankings. The Raiders are 44th, while East is 51st. There are 54 teams in 3A West.

East is favored by the Massey Ratings by six points.  East has generally played South Piedmont Conference opponents tougher than South has, although the Raiders have perked up in recent weeks. South QB Brooks Overcash has five of his six touchdown passes in the last three weeks.

South leads the all-time series 32-23, but East has won the last six meetings. The Raiders haven’t beaten the Mustangs since 2014.

•••

Concord (3-5, 3-2) at West Rowan (6-2, 3-1), 7 p.m.

West’s excellent season is reflected by its No. 8 position in the 3A West RPI rankings.

Northwest Cabarrus (10th in the 3A West RPI rankings) looks like a sure thing to win the conference, but West is headed for a first-round home game  in the playoffs as long as it wins this week and next.

Losses to Carson and Northwest have knocked Concord out of the SPC race and West is favored by at least two touchdowns, but the Spiders are always a dangerous adversary and they have a very athletic QB in Keyon Phillips. He has the wheels to take a broken play and turn it into a 70-yard touchdown jaunt.

West can be dynamic and explosive offensively.  Graham has thrown for 1,512 yards. Adrian Stockton has 30 catches for 596 yards and five TDs.  Stockton and Kennedy have kickoff return touchdowns and Kennedy has over 1,200 yards combined rushing and receiving.

Concord beat West 20-13 last fall and leads the series 17-7. West pounded the Spiders in 2019 for its most recent win in the series.

•••

Central Cabarrus (3-5, 2-2) at Carson (3-5, 2-2), 7 p.m.

The identical records indicate a tight game. Carson is favored by a touchdown by the Massey Ratings.

It’s a huge game for the Cougars, who are currently 34th in the 3A West RPI rankings. There’s room for 32 teams in the bracket, so all Carson can do is win its last two … and hope.

Carson is coming off a dominating performance at East Rowan. Michael Guiton threw four TD passes last week. Guiton and receiver Emory Taylor, who caught three TDs, had career games.

Central throws it well, so the Cougars’ pass defense and pass rush will be tested.

Central leads the all-time series 5-2, but Carson won 35-20 when the teams met last fall. The most recent win by the Vikings was in 2018.

•••

Davie (2-6, 1-4) at Parkland (0-8, 0-5)

Davie is 37th in the latest 4A West RPI rankings, so the War Eagles are on the wrong side of the playoff bubble after last week’s last-minute loss to West Forsyth.

Struggling Parkland won’t help Davie’s strength of schedule, but at least the War Eagles will notch a victory.

Davie annihilated Parkland 55-0 last fall and is a 35-point favorite.

•••

Mooresville (7-1, 4-0) at A.L. Brown (5-3, 2-3)

Surging Mooresville, coached by former Catawba star Joe Nixon, is up to No. 5 in the 4A West RPI rankings.

The Blue Devils have a powerful running game and stout defense, and they’ve lost only to powerhouse Hough.

‘The Wonders have won their last two and are in good position to make the state playoffs. They’re 26th in the 4A West RPI rankings.

The Blue Devils are favored by 15 points at Memorial Stadium.

A.L. Brown leads the all-time series 17-12, but the Blue Devils have won the last three meetings. The most recent win by the Wonders was in 2017.