By Mike London

mike.london@salisburypost.com

Friday’s football games …

SALISBURY — When Salisbury and Thomasville first barreled into each other on a football field in 1928, Babe Ruth was hitting home runs, a loaf of bread was a dime and a gallon of gas cost 12 cents.

That first Salisbury-Thomasville scrap ended in a tie. Neither team scored, but if you were inclined to do so, you could buy a newspaper for 2 cents and read all about it.

Thomasville had to wait 39 long years after that first meeting before it finally beat a team representing Salisbury in 1967.

The Pete Stout-coached Boyden/Salisbury teams generally took it to Thomasville, even when coaching legend George Cushwa was guiding the Bulldogs. Salisbury went 8-0-1 against the Bulldogs from 1969-1975.

There were two meetings between the powerhouse programs in 1973 and 1974, with a pair of legendary 7-6 victories recorded by the Hornets in 1974 in a span of two weeks. The Bulldogs tried for a 2-point conversion after scoring their only TD in both games. Salisbury’s defense denied both attempts. Stubbornness can be an admirable trait, but it doesn’t always pay off on the gridiron.

Despite those failed 2-point conversions, Thomasville has been a monster program over the years, amassing a 693-358-32 all-time record. The Bulldogs began dominating their series with Salisbury in the late 1970s and won 10 of 11 meetings from 1978 to 1988.

The programs went their separate ways after 1988 and didn’t get back together again until 1995 when they collided in the fiercest game in the history of the series. Both were undefeated when they locked horns in the third round of the 2A state playoffs in a game that basically would determine the state championship. Thomasville won that battle 14-6 and went on to become the first team in NCHSAA history to post a 16-0 season.

There were no more Thomasville-Salisbury games for 14 years after that, as Hornet wounds slowly healed, but in 2009, the Joe Pinyan Era at Salisbury, the rivalry enjoyed a rebirth as Central Carolina Conference adversaries and burned very hot, with spectacular struggles every year.

In 2017, Salisbury took over the series again. The Hornets have won the last six meetings (the teams did not meet in the COVID season) and now lead the series 22-19-2.

Salisbury (3-1) will be favored by 21 points over the Bulldogs (2-2) at Cushwa Stadium on Friday and will be expected to continue the winning streak, but it looks like it will be a tougher game than that.

It will be the Central Carolina Conference opener for both, one of the marquee games of the regular season. It will be quietly huge for Salisbury head coach Clayton Trivett, an outstanding lineman in his high school days at Thomasville. although he will do his best to treat it as just another game.

Senior quarterback Hank Webb has been outstanding and then some for the Hornets, throwing for 769 yards and 10 touchdowns, while adding 40 points as a kicker. Webb has two of the top three receivers in the county to throw to in Jay’lin Johnon and Macari House.

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North Rowan (2-2) at South Davidson (0-4)

It’s hard to see anything going wrong for the Cavaliers at South Davidson.

North is 11-0 all-time against South Davidson and is favored by 40 to make it 12 in a row.

The Massey Ratings give the Wildcats a 1 percent chance of winning, roughly the same odds as a fleet of flying saucers landing on the 50-yard line in Denton.

Jeremiah Alford, who has a school-record 68 TD passes and is closing in on the county record of 74, may rack up four or five more. Alford leads the county in passing yardage after putting up 350 last week. Emari Russell is the county’s leading receiver with 329 yards, while Jo Jo Tarver is first with 395 rushing yards.

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Carson (2-1) at West Rowan (1-2)

After an open week, West is favored by 21 by the Massey Ratings, which may make this the first time in the history of high school football that a team coming off a 66-0 loss (to Mooresville) is a three-TD favorite.

But West has brought misery to Carson over the years. The Cougars have won just one of 19 meetings with the Falcons, and that amazing game occurred 11 years ago.

West quarterback Brant Graham was hurt during the disastrous outing at Mooresville. Coach Louis Kraft said it will be a game-time decision as far as Graham playing in this one. He has not been a full participant in practice since the injury.

If Graham can’t go, West will try to pound the rock with Jaylen Neely and/or Evan Kennedy.

While West is coming off the worst loss in school history (records for margin of defeat, as well as points allowed), Carson had an exciting final-seconds win at Piedmont.

Carson has exciting young talent on offense — Rosean Perkins is fourth in the county in rushing — but it’s probably going to come down to whether the Cougars’ defensive line and linebackers can hold up against West’s running game.

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East Rowan (0-3) at Concord (1-2)

East is coming off an open week, and badly needed that week to regroup after three lopsided losses.

It can’t get worse, but it’s not likely to get a lot better at Concord on Friday, East’s first road game under coach Brian Flynn, as the Spiders have crushed the Mustangs over the years. The all-time series stands 43-3-1. East’s win were in 1969, 1979 and 2009, so the Mustangs may have to wait until 2029 to get the next one.

East is a 35-point underdog, according to the Massey Ratings and is given a 2 percent chance to shock the world.

The only school that has beaten East more than Concord is North Rowan, which owns 45 victories against the Mustangs.

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South Rowan (1-2) at Northwest Cabarrus (2-1)

South Rowan has a substantial history of success against the Trojans and leads the series 21-15. The school that South has beaten the most often is East Rowan (33 times). Northwest and West Rowan are tied for second on South’s list of victories, but obviously most of those wins came a long while back.

Northwest has won the last five meetings. South’s most recent victory was in 2014. It was a one-sided 63-0 game last year.

South lost 41-14 to A.L. Brown last week. A.L. Brown lost 47-21 to Northwest. That helps explain why Northwest is favored by 40 points over South by the Massey Ratings.

The Massey Ratings give South a zero percent chance of winning. providing the Raiders with incentive for the greatest upset in the history of football.

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Hickory Ridge (0-4) at A.L. Brown (2-1)

Based on the Massey Ratings, this is supposed to be the closest game of the night. The Wonders are favored by six points with a win probability of 58 percent.

While A.L. Brown leads the series 6-4, the Bulls have won all three since the schools became Metro Conference opponents.

If you’re a Wonder fan looking for reasons to be optimistic, there are exactly 195 of them. Hickory Ridge has allowed 40, 45, 56 and 56 points — that’s 195 in all— although a brutal schedule has had something to do with that.