By Mike London
mike.london@salisburypost.com

SALISBURY — It seems like the Rowan County Jamboree was only yesterday, but autumn officially arrived last week and homecomings will be celebrated this Friday.

A high school football regular season, especially now that we have 10-game regular seasons, goes by in a hurry.

This is Week 7. Five of the six Rowan teams will play at home on Friday.

There’s officially a race in the Central Carolina Conference thanks to North Rowan beating Thomasville on the road last week.

The Massey Ratings still project Salisbury to go 10-0 in the regular season and to win all of its remaining regular-season games by 35 or more points. Salisbury is a very good 2A team, but is dealing with some injuries, some sloppiness and a lot of flags. When you’re punting on fourth-and-28 on your first possession against West Davidson, you’re getting too many penalties and there’s still work to do.

Meanwhile, North’s win at Thomasville instills a lot of confidence in being able to compete with anyone in the CCC, especially when you consider that Thomasville lost 12-6 at Salisbury.

Lexington is also lurking out there, 2-0 in the CCC, and playing the best it’s played in many years. Of course, Lexington still has Salisbury, North and Thomasville on the menu the last three weeks of the regular season.

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As far as the South Piedmont Conference, the only serious debate right now is who’s better — defending champ Northwest Cabarrus or league newcomer Robinson?

They’re 1 and 2 in some order.

You can make a good case for Robinson because Concord is 4-1 and the Spiders lost to Robinson 44-0.

You never want to feel great about a loss, but Carson didn’t feel bad at all after a 26-6 loss to Robinson last week. On defense, Carson played about as well as it can play, but Robinson is awfully good.

As far as Northwest Cabarrus, well, it’s been Trojans 155, opponents zero, in their last three outings. That’s impressive no matter who you’re playing. Mount Pleasant is not bad, and Northwest romped 48-0 against the Tigers. The Trojans won at A.L. Brown.

While Robinson is 3-0 in the league and Northwest is 2-0, there’s another 2-0 SPC team that’s grown accustomed to winning over the last two decades. That’s West Rowan.

The Falcons will get their chance to prove they belong in the SPC’s top tier. They get to see Northwest and Robinson back-to-back in their next two games.

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In the Greater Metro Conference, A.L. Brown flirted with a serious win last week, but undefeated Lake Norman came back and kicked a 50-yard field goal in the final seconds to beat the Wonders.

A.L. Brown is getting closer under new coach Justin Hardin, but isn’t quite there yet. The Wonders really need to beat Cox Mill this week, and a lot of people think they will.

Whatever happens in that one, it looks like either Mooresville or Lake Norman will win the GMC. They play each other in the last game of the regular season.

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Every team in the eight-team Central Piedmont Conference has lost at least once, and after two weeks of conference play, only Davie and West Forsyth have 2-0 records.

Davie’s victory against East Forsyth last week elevates the War Eagles, who average better than 40 points per game, to serious contender status.

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South Davidson (3-3, 0-2 CCC) at Salisbury (6-0, 2-0 CCC), 7:30 p.m.

It’s homecoming for the Hornets, who are 42-point favorites by the Massey Ratings once again this week.

Salisbury has won the last two meetings 59-0 and 64-0, but South Davidson is an improved team and came close to knocking off North Rowan two weeks ago.

The key guy for South Davidson is quarterback Tanner Delattre, who has 1,124 passing yards and 584 rushing yards.

The Wildcats will try to control the ball, shorten the game and keep Salisbury back Jamal Rule on the sideline.

After six games, Rule is still averaging almost 10 yards per carry and has rushed for 1,186 yards.

Mike Geter has thrown for 918 yards. Deuce Walker is having the best receiving season in school history with 38 catches for 476 yards and six TDs.

Defensive end Jaden Warren has 9.5 sacks for the Hornets.

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North Rowan (5-1, 2-0 CCC) at East Davidson (2-3, 0-1 CCC), 7:30 p.m.

The Cavaliers are 20-point favorites, but this isn’t a game they can take lightly.

East Davidson trampled the Cavaliers 52-27 in 2022 and lost to North in two overtimes in 2021.

Senior back Jaemias Morrow has carried 104 times for 713 yards and had some huge runs for North in the win at Thomasville last week.

He’s had four 100-yard games.

Jeremiah Alford directs the North offense and has contributed two interceptions on defense.

Jordan Bailey has four sacks.

East Davidson QB Tegan Hedrick has thrown for 783 yards, but he’s been picked off nine times. Brogan Hill has rushed for 469 yards.

North leads the all-time series 17-5.

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Robinson (5-0, 3-0 SPC) at East Rowan (0-5, 0-2 SPC), 7 p.m.

It’s hard to visualize anything amazing happening in this one, as Robinson is a 36-point favorite with a 99 percent win probability.

Robinson, like a lot of SPC teams, has a very good quarterback. Isaac Lee threw three TD passes last week.

Na’ledge Wright has run wild on the ground for the Bulldogs for almost 200 yards per game.

This is only the fourth meeting of the schools. Robinson leads the all-time series 2-1.

East’s win came in 2001. That was the game in which Cal Hayes Jr. rushed for 344 yards. That performance stood as the school record for about 20 years.

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Concord (4-1, 2-1 SPC) at Carson (1-4, 0-2 SPC), 7 p.m.

Despite the disparity in records, there’s a chance this will be the best game of the night. Concord is a 7-point favorite.

Concord averages only 11 points per game and its SPC wins came against Central Cabarrus (1-4) and East Rowan (0-5), so there are reasons for Carson fans to be optimistic.

Carson beat Concord 20-13 in 2022, the Cougars’ first victory ever against the Spiders, and that’s another reason for optimism.

Concord’s 6-1 lead in the all-time series includes a playoff victory against the 2010 Carson team that set the school record for wins with 10.

Carson lineman Tristen McBride has been chosen for the East-West All-Star Game.

Like Concord, Carson has been better on defense than offense. Carson’s biggest offensive production of the season so far is 21 points.

Michael Guiton has thrown for 700 yards for the Cougars.

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Central Cabarrus (1-4, 0-2 SPC) at South Rowan (1-4, 0-2 SPC), 7 p.m.

The Vikings are favored by three touchdowns, but this shouldn’t be one of those running-clock affairs. South isn’t likely to win, but the Raiders should be able to compete.

South leads the all-time series 10-8, but Central won 43-20 in 2022 and has won eight in a row. Central demolished South in 2012 and 2013, scoring 128 points in those two games.

South’s most recent win in the series was in 2010. In 2009, the last year the Raiders had a winning season, they creamed Central 51-6.

South’s Brooks Overcash has thrown for 662 yards and has 10 TD passes with only three interceptions.

Landon Richards has rushed for 248 yards in the three games he’s been healthy and he had two TD catches last week.

Jadon Moore has 15 catches for 290 yards and ran back a kickoff for a TD in last week’s 54-28 loss to West Rowan.

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Northwest Cabarrus (5-0, 2-0) at West Rowan (2-3, 2-0), 7 p.m.

It’s a huge game for the Falcons if they’re going to be a factor in the SPC race.

Northwest beat the Falcons 20-7 in a game that decided the 2022 SPC championship. Northwest is favored by 11 points to make it two in a row against the Falcons.

West smashed the Trojans 41-6 in 2021.

West’s 21-8 lead in the all-time series includes a 41-7 thrashing of the Trojans in the 2010 state playoffs. West won 14-3 in a celebrated game in 2005 in which both schools were still undefeated deep in the regular season.

NWC quarterback Alex Walker completes 64 percent of his passes and has thrown for 954 yards and nine TDs, with only three interceptions.

Ray Jay Waters give the Trojans almost 100 yards per game on the ground. Porter Branham has 17 catches for 342 yards.

Jaylen Neely has rushed for 660 yards and 10 touchdowns for the Falcons.

Sophomore QB Brett Graham has had two 200-yard passing games and is getting better each game.

Evan Kennedy had a monster receiving game last week with six catches for 194 yards and two scores.

West had eight sacks last week and getting pressure on Walker will be critical to West’s chances. Kevin Toomer had three of those sacks, while Hunter Miller had two.

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A.L. Brown (2-3, 0-2 GMC) at Cox Mill (2-4, 1-1 SPC), 7 p.m.

This is a toss-up game. The Massey Ratings give A.L. Brown a 51 percent chance of winning, with a score projection of 28-27.

Sounds exciting.

Cox Mill hammered the Wonders 58-35 last season and has won the last two meetings, but the Wonders still lead 7-3 in the all-time series.

The Chargers have thrown the ball reasonably well — six passing TDs — but haven’t been able to do much on the ground.

A.l. Brown quarterback CJ Gray has thrown for 779 yards and has accounted for 12 TDs.

Mekhi Herron is a standout running back, with 693 rushing yards and four 100-yard games to his credit.

Gerard Evans leads the receiving crew with 18 catches for 283 yards.