CHINA GROVE — West Rowan repaired a few cracks in its foundation Friday night at Carson.

The Falcons scored the game’s last three touchdowns and secured their first victory, brushing aside the mistake-prone Cougars 32-14 in the South Piedmont Conference opener for both schools.

“We have a lot to clean up,” coach Louis Kraft said after West (1-3 overall) surpassed 400 yards total offense and limited Carson (1-3) to 47 yards on the ground. “Too many penalties, which makes it tough. When we get behind the chains, it gets really hard offensively. But we really can’t complain. When you’re 0-3 coming in, you’ll take any kind of win.”

This one saw the officiating crew call 29 penalties, including 16 against the hosts for 116 yards. Eight times Carson was flagged for encroachment, as West quarterback Brant Graham (12-for-24, 218 yards) used an assortment of hard calls and hand claps to draw the Cougars off side. West received 13 penalties for 125 yards.

“We’re very shallow on our offensive line,” said second-year CHS coach Jonathan Lowe. “We had a kid quit this week and another who medically can’t play. But we gave them a ton of yardage on defense, whether it was undisciplined football —like jumping off sides— or just playing soft. West was a hungry team and they got after it.”

The Falcons were paced by junior running back Jaylen Neely, who rushed for a season-best 175 yards and three touchdowns. Graham, a sophomore, threw touchdown passes to Kaden Feaster and freshman Jacob Kirk. Feaster opened the scoring when he found some space in the end zone on a 16-yard TD play midway through the first quarter. Kirk snagged an 8-yard touchdown pass that gave West a 26-13 lead with 1:09 remaining in the third quarter. West’s defense forced two turnovers in the final period —Hunter Miller’s fumble recovery with  8:51 to play and Aubree Robinson’s interception near the goal line on Carson’s final play from scrimmage.

Carson quarterback Michael Guiton completed 10 of 24 passes for 220 yards and threw a 65-yard TD pass to junior wideout Colin Ball (4 receptions, 105 yards) early in the second half. Julio Moctezuma’s extra point gave the Cougars a short-lived 14-13 lead. Four minutes later, West took the lead for good when Neely bulldozed into the end zone on a 3-yard run off left tackle.

“We were playing pretty bad and it made us mad,” said West’s Evan Kennedy. “Then we had our bye week to think about it. We just went hard in practice and turned it up tonight.”

West hosts South Rowan next Friday while Carson visits J.M. Robinson.

 

West Rowan    13    0    13    6 — 32

Carson              0      7     7     0 — 14

WR — Feaster 16 pass from Graham (Durant kick), 5:21 1st

WR — Neely 7 run (kick failed), 0:53 1st

CAR — Guida 4 run (Moctezuma kick), 5:30 2nd

CAR — Ball 65 pass from Guiton (Moctezuma kick), 10:56 3rd

WR — Neely 3 run (run failed), 6:28 3rd

WR — Kirk 8 pass from Graham (Durant kick), 1:09 3rd

WR — Neely 3 run (kick failed), 7:10 4th

Team Stats                                WR                            CAR

First downs                               25                                12

Rushes-yards                        54-187                         28-47

Passing yards                          218                              220

Passes                                   12-26-0                      10-24-1

Penalties                                 13-125                        16-116

Punts                                       2-42                             3-36.3

Fumbles-lost                          4-0                               2-1

Individual Stats

Rushing — WR: Neely 31-175; Kennedy 7-27; Martin 2-13; Feaster 2-2; Tucker 4-(minus 8); Graham 8-(minus 22). CAR: Guida 7-56; McGruder 13-13; Clawson 1-4; Guiton 7-(minus 26).

Passing — WR: Graham 12-24-0, 218; Tucker 0-2-0. CAR: Guiton 10-24-1, 220.

Receiving — WR: Feaster 5-108; Kennedy 3-51; Kirk 2-30; Holmes 2-29. CAR: Ball 4-105; Dyer 2-47; Vaughn 2-33; Aman 1-30; Rockwell 1-5.