By Mike London

mike.london@salisburypost.com

SPENCER — It was a light local football stretch to begin with, as Carson, East Rowan and West Rowan all are in their open week.

Carson would like to have played this week, as the Cougars were coming off an exciting, final-seconds road win, and you can build on wins like that.

As for East and West, they needed a quiet week before conference play starts to heal and congeal about as much as any teams ever have needed it. They came out on the short end, 57-0 and 66-0, last week.

Salisbury decided to play on Thursday.

The result was a surprisingly dominant 38-7 victory against previously unbeaten Person County. The Hornets (3-1) smashed the visitors right from the opening kickoff.

The Hornets’ version of the Rockettes — the Honeybees  — perform high-kicks to celebrate each point, so they got a workout.

Quite a few area games were played on Thursday. The Hornets weren’t alone in moving their game up due to weather concerns, although it appears now that Friday night will see reasonable temperatures and widespread showers. The rumble of thunder is always possible, however, and one lightning bolt can create a night of chaos for everyone.

Who else played non-conference games on Thursday?

The most significant win was posted by Northwest Cabarrus against Mount Pleasant in a 16-14 defensive struggle between two good Cabarrus teams.

Lexington lost to Central Davidson. South Davidson was destroyed by South Stanly. Cox Mill and West Cabarrus fell by lopsided margins to Hickory and Porter Ridge, respectively.

Just two games are on the local schedule tonight.

North Rowan will play TW Andrews in High Point.

North (1-2) has lost two straight, so it would be nice to finish the non-conference portion of the schedule 2-2.

This is going to be a tough game, probably a 28-21 sort of game. TW Andrews (3-0) is favored by four points. North won a close one last year in the first meeting of the schools.

North probably will need touchdown passes from senior quarterback Jeremiah Alford, who enters the game with 64 for his career. one shy of the school record Mario Sturdivant set in 1999.

South Rowan will play at A.L. Brown, as those teams look to rekindle the flame of what was a special neighborhood rivalry for many years.

Every one of South’s eight victories in the long-running series — 1968, 1975, 1976, 1981, 1983, 1994, 2003 and 2009 — provided lifetime memories and stories for the winners.

When the teams played overtime games three straight seasons — 1983 to 1985 — the rivalry achieved a similar hotness level to A.L. Brown-Concord, but South has won only once in the series since Carson opened on the other side of Interstate 85 in 2006.

South last beat the Wonders in 2009, which not coincidentally, also was South’s last team that finished with a winning record.

After the Wonders, who lead the series 8-46-2, obliterated the Raiders 65-7 in 2016, neither school seemed to be benefiting all that much from playing, the once overflow crowds had diminished, and the series went on hiatus.

But current South head coach Chris Walsh believes it’s important to the community to play A.L. Brown, leading to a revival of the series in 2023.  That revival coincided with the arrival of Justin Hardin as the new head coach of the Wonders. The Wonders won 49-6 last season.

A.L. Brown (1-1) hasn’t been great so far this year, pulling out a game against West Rowan on the final play and getting pounded by Northwest Cabarrus, but the Wonders are heavy favorites tonight to add to their string of victories against South.

South (1-1) has played two exciting games so far, winning against Union Academy and losing to Hickory Grove Christian.

The Massey Ratings favor the Wonders by 38, with a 45-7 score projection, but the Raiders hope to make it a lot more exciting than that.