By Mike London

mike.london@salisburypost.com

KANNAPOLIS —  South Rowan surprised A.L. Brown with a halfback pass, and Marshal Faw threw a strike to Jadon Moore for a 24-yard touchdown.

Two twitchy South athletes who could suit up for anyone in Rowan County teamed up to make an exciting play on Friday night at Memorial Stadium.

On Wonder Radio, color man and former coach Buddy Amerson, who has been around a while, reminisced that Faw’s grandfather, Ernie Faw, taught and coached at both A.L. Brown and South Rowan back in the day, and was part of South’s outstanding football staff when the neighborhood rivalry burned very hot.

The programs played overtime games three straight years in the first half of the 1980s. Yes, South Rowan went to OT against the 1984 Wonder team that was a state runner-up. Whenever the Wonders visited South Rowan in those days, extra bleachers had to be brought in to try to deal with overflow crowds. At its peak, South-A.L. Brown wasn’t all that different from A.L. Brown-Concord.

“For about 20 years, into the mid-1990s, this was a very big game,” Amerson told his listeners.

It might be again some day.

But right now, it’s still too one-sided to be classified as a rivalry. A.L. Brown didn’t have star quarterback CJ Gray on Friday, but still had the game under control by halftime and won 41-14.

South head coach Chris Walsh correctly pointed out that this actually was the closest South-A.L. Brown game since South’s most recent win in 2009.

“Played them the best South has in 15 years,” said the always upbeat Walsh who is a master of finding silver linings in the darkest clouds.

Still, it was the ninth straight victory for the Wonders by at least four touchdowns. The scores: 45-7, 63-12, 62-6, 41-6, 51-7, 67-0, 65-7, 49-6, and now 41-14.

A.L. Brown, very roughly treated by Northwest Cabarrus a week earlier, amassed a staggering 542 yards of offense against the Raiders. A.J. Settles, who stepped in at QB, threw for 238 yards and three touchdowns.

Mekhi Herron (10 carries, 91 yards) paced a ground assault by committee that racked up 304 rushing yards and averaged a whopping 9.2 yard per carry.

It was 20-0 when Faw connected with Moore for the touchdown that put the Raiders (1-2) on the scoreboard. The Wonders (2-1) responded to that challenge by scoring two more TDs before halftime to put the game away.

“We started strong,” Walsh said. “We were just outside the red zone and had the chance to score first, but we missed that opportunity. It was still only 7-0 after a quarter and we were where we wanted to be, but we let the second quarter get away from us.”

Walsh said nagging injuries hurt the Raiders, but they also provided opportunities for others. He said Ricky Moore took advantage of a chance and played great at cornerback.

Tristian Littlejohn played corner and safety, performed well at both positions and had a fumble recovery.

“Tristian chased down one breakaway from across the field,”Walsh said. “Just a total effort play. He’s having an awesome season for us.”

South quarterback Brooks Overcash was 14-for-25 passing for 125 yards, with one interception. Overcash also had a career effort on the ground with 72 carries on 11 yards, and he scored South’s second-half TD. Conner Richards added a 2-point conversion run.

“Good night for Brooks, his best game of the year,” Walsh said. “He ran it well and threw it efficiently.”

South ran for 105 yards, which means the running backs got 33 yards.

Moore had a strong receiving night with six catches for 85 yards.

Herron, Bryce Morgan and Jahazzi Cauthen had rushing TDs for the Wonders. Masiah Bennermon didn’t score but had 81 yards on seven carries.

Settles threw two TD passes to Navariy Young, including a 66-yarder, and one to Ja’Meer Langley. Young had 149 receiving yards on his four catches.

Cainen Miller blocked a field goal for the Wonders, while Mason Cook recovered a fumble. Brian Rojo was 5-for-6 on extra points.

Both teams enter conference play now.

The Wonders will take on Hickory Ridge in the 4A Greater Metro Conference.

South starts South Piedmont Conference play with Northwest Cabarrus, a team that smashed A.L. Brown with its running game, so that’s going to be a tall order for the Raiders.

“We’ve played three good teams non-conference and our guys have competed well in all three games,” Walsh said. “We’re going to take what we’ve learned into SPC play. We’re feeling very positive about where we are right now.”