By Mike London

mike.london@salisburypost.com

HIGH POINT —  North Rowan senior quarterback Jeremiah Alford set school records and personal records with a memorable performance at historic Simeon Stadium on Friday night.

North stopped a two-game slide, smashing a previously unbeaten TW Andrews team, 55-36. The Cavaliers led 41-0 in the second quarter.

Alford was 11-for-17 for a PR 350 yards, one of the top-10 passing yardage games in Rowan County history.

Alford’s four TD passes gave him a school-record 68 for his career. Mario Sturdivant had set the North standard with 65 from 1997-1999.

While North got back on track on Friday, the 13th, the Cavaliers (2-2) hadn’t had any luck at all the previous two weeks at home, a soggy setback against Forest Hills and a breakdown-filled effort against Anson.

“I thought we took a big step back in the Anson game, didn’t play well at all,” North head coach Josh Sophia said. “We regressed quite a bit. So going to High Point to play Andrews was an awfully big road game for us. It was important for us to get back to 2-2 before we started conference, and our guys played really well. Those first 20 minutes or so, we couldn’t have played any better than we did on either side of the ball.”

Besides Alford’s monster game, North got 116 rushing yards on 17 carries from Jo Jo Tarver and 146 receiving yards from Emari Russell.

North had two defensive touchdowns, with Donald Horton getting a pick-six and Mike Alford, Jeremiah’s younger brother, scooping up a fumble and taking it all the way.

KJ Oglesby’s 5-yard TD run started the scoring. North didn’t execute on the snap-hold portion of the PAT kick, but Salim Shamman would kick seven of them successfully before the night was over.

Horton’s 40-yard interception return came next for a 13-0 lead less than four minutes into the game.

With 5:32 left in the first quarter, Jeremiah Alford got the touchdown pass that tied the school record. Career TD No. 65 for him was a long play, a 90-yard connection with the elusive Russell that made it 20-0.

Linebacker Michael Alford’s 27-yard fumble return, less than a minute later, made it 27-0 and concluded the scoring in a devastating first-quarter onslaught by the Cavaliers.

Jeremiah Alford fired  another long pass play to break the school record with 11:39 left in the second quarter. No. 66 was a 63-yard connection with Jaiden Brown for a 34-0 lead.

It was 41-0 after a 3-yard scoring run by Tarver, but things got a little crazy for North in the last two minutes of the first half.

Brandon Sturdivant had a 17-yard TD run for the Red Raiders, and they added a 2-point conversion for 41-8.

With 39 seconds left in the half, Kaumell picked off a pass by Alford and turned it into a 57-yard pick-six. TW Andrews (3-1) added another 2-point conversion, and it was 41-16.

Then the home team recovered a fumble on the ensuing kickoff, after Sturdivant ripped the ball away from a Cavalier, but North’s defense got a stop as the half ended.

North got the momentum back in the third quarter, as the Alfords combined on a TD. Jeremiah threw it. Michael caught his brother’s 67th TD pass. It was an 11-yard score for a 48-16 lead.

TW Andrews cut North’s lead to 48-30 by the end of the third quarter with rushing TDs by Sturdivant and Darion Avery.

“They got it down to 18, a little too close for comfort,” Sophia said.

North scored again to get some breathing room. That TD came with 8:27 left to play. Alford hit Dyzarious Carpenter for a 27-yard touchdown, his fourth TD toss of the night and Carpenter’s third TD catch of the season.

That was No. 68 career-wise for Alford and tied him for second place on the county’s all-time TD passes list with former West Rowan quarterback Payne Stolsworth. Stolsworth had big-play receivers from 2016-18, including Kortez Weeks and Jalen Houston, two of the top five on the county’s all-time TD receptions list.

East Rowan’s Samuel Wyrick, who threw 74 TD passes from 2012-14, 35 of them to his twin bother, Seth, is the county record-holder and the next target for Alford.

TW Andrews got its last TD on a pass on the final play of the game.

North plays at South Davidson (0-4) next Friday to open Central Carolina Conference play.