By Mike London
mike.london@salisburypost.com

SPENCER —  Seven catches. Five touchdowns.

North Rowan’s Amir Alexander has been the ultimate big-play guy. He hasn’t needed many targets to be a serious weapon, as he’s averaging almost 40 yards per catch for the Cavaliers.

For the first half of the season, he’s been a chest-bump waiting to happen.

“I’m not sure where we’d be without Amir right now,” North head coach Josh Sophia said.

North wouldn’t be 4-1 without him. Three of his five touchdowns have been critical to North’s early season success. There were two TD catches of 50-plus yards in the 38-28 win at Anson. There was another bomb — the game-decider — in Friday’s 20-14 Central Carolina Conference victory against South Davidson. Alexander beat a defender deep, and Jeremiah Alford delivered a strike for a tie-breaking 51-yard touchdown.

“All I was thinking about is I’ve got to catch this ball — and I did,” Alexander said.

Alexander plays on both sides of the ball for the Cavaliers.

On offense,he usually lines up as a wideout, but he’s sturdy enough that he can also play tight end. On defense, he’s usually the strong safety and has made 28 tackles. He had two interceptions on Friday, his first two picks of the season.

“I saw the quarterback look my way on a deep ball,” Alexander said. “Then I just went up and got it.”

“He made two very key interceptions,” Sophia added. “His first pick was in the end zone. On the second one, he got up and high-pointed it.”

Just the fact that Alexander is playing football is a story.

“This is just my second year of football,” he said. “I don’t have much of a football background, but my friends and the coaches talked me into coming out. They just kept talking to me.”

Alexander is better known for basketball. He averaged double figures for North’s varsity as a sophomore.

Then he left North for a semester, seeking to raise his recruiting profile with greater exposure in Winston-Salem, but that didn’t work out. Older and wiser, he returned to North last January, did his best to fit in with teammates and made an impact. He scored in double figures five times down the stretch, including a 22-point outburst against Lexington.

Football never had been a priority for Alexander, but 6-foot-3, 195-pound guys don’t grow on trees. There aren’t many guys at North with the physical dimensions and gifts that Alexander possesses.

Football has worked out well for him and for his team.

“A lot of people have told me that at 6-foot-3, I will stand out more in football than basketball,” Alexander said. “And I’m starting to love football now, even more than basketball.”

After scoring early and recovering an onside kick, the Cavaliers had a chance to get up two TDs on South Davidson, but couldn’t cash in after the recovery.

“If we get up two scores on them it may have changed how the game went, but only down 7-0 they were able to stick with their plan, and it was a good plan,” Sophia said. “They kept the ball, shortened the game, and we were fortunate to win it.”

North faces an even tougher task this week. The Cavaliers play at Thomasville, which came close to winning at Salisbury last week.

“We have embraced winning ugly in recent weeks,” Sophia said. “We’ve got to stop their running game, keep it close and give ourselves a chance.”