By Mike London

mike.london@salisburypost.com

MOUNT ULLA— The Carson-West Rowan game was just getting under way last Friday when Evan Kennedy set the tone for everything that followed in an emphatic 33-7 victory for the Falcons.

Kennedy lined up as a slot receiver on the left side of the formation with no one directly challenging him. There was a lot of unoccupied grass around the most dangerous man on the field, and Kennedy, who has been making huge plays for four varsity seasons, knows how to take advantage of space.

Kennedy doesn’t try to sell a fake that he’s taking off on a pass route. When the ball is snapped, he simply pivots and retreats 5 yards deep into the West backfield, almost to the West 35. West quarterback Brant Graham is getting some pressure from three Cougars, so his sideways sling isn’t perfect, but Kennedy is sure-handed, so Graham’s short flip is good enough. Now that Kennedy has the ball secured, he surveys the field, there’s still no one near  him, and alarms are going off in the heads of Carson’s deep defenders.

There was a game two years ago when Kennedy had 227 receiving yards, a school record, against Davie County. He’s rugged enough to catch the ball in traffic over the middle like a tight end, but he’s also as elusive as a running back once he’s in the open field.

“Evan is a student of the game,” West head coach Louis Kraft said. “So knowledgeable. His football knowledge always gives him the advantage.”

Nolan White is the first and last guy with a clean shot at Kennedy. He comes rushing up fearlessly from the secondary, but Kennedy is quick and twitchy and isn’t quite where White expects him to be. White goes sliding by, grabbing futilely at Kennedy’s powerful shoulders, and now Kennedy gets the one block he needs for a huge play.

West’s Ja’mih Tucker isn’t looking to pancake anyone, but the wideout/point guard  creates an effective human shield, stubbornly holding his ground, without holding. Carson safety Cruise Monteith is sealed off, can’t fight his way through Tucker, and now Kennedy has found the sideline and is finding another gear.

The last man with a chance to prevent a touchdown is young linebacker Jamarion Brown. No one blocked Brown and he didn’t get tangled in traffic, but he was in the middle of the field, so he has a long run to get to the sideline. Had he taken a perfect angle he might have able to make solid contact, but this is his first experience chasing Kennedy. Kennedy’s compact strides are eating up yard markers at a furious pace. Brown dives at Kennedy’s legs around the 30, but he comes up empty.

No one touches Kennedy until it’s way too late. He gets shoved into the end zone and he has the game’s first six.

“Tucker’s block, that’s what made that play happen,” Kennedy said. “Then once I saw I could get to the sideline, I knew I had a chance to score. The biggest worry I had was stepping out of bounds.”

Kennedy finished a typical night with three touchdowns, one rushing and two receiving. He had 10 catches for 156 yards and eight carries for 48 yards.

West had lost 66-0 to Mooresville the last time it had taken the field — Graham got hurt early — and then had an open week to deal with it. So the Falcons were more than eager to get after the Cougars, one of their bigger rivals in the county and in the South Piedmont Conference.

“The Mooresville game embarrassed us and having a week between games after that, not being able to get back out there right away, I think that was a challenge for us mentally,” Kennedy said. “But it wasn’t as tough as you might think. We knew we’d be all right. We just needed a fast start against Carson to put Mooresville behind us, and I’d say we got that fast start.”

It was an incredibly quick start for the Falcons (2-2) in the SPC opener for both teams. It was expected to be a tough game, but Kennedy’s 59-yard touchdown reception came in the first minute. It was 14-0 after four minutes and 21-0 after six minutes, before the Cougars, who had been punched in the mouth in old-school West Rowan fashion, settled in and started to fight back.

Kennedy’s performance against Carson wasn’t an anomaly. It wasn’t out of character. He has established himself as one of the elite receivers in West Rowan and Rowan County history.

There’s no disputing that. Going into a game at South Rowan that is now scheduled for noon on Saturday, Kennedy has 117 career catches for 1,978 yards and 20 touchdowns. He will become only the ninth player in county history and the third in West Rowan history (the other Falcons are Kortez Weeks and Jalen Houston) to surpass 2,000 receiving yards.

What makes Kennedy really, really special is he also has rushed for 1,386 yards and 18 TDs. When the Falcons have needed him in the backfield due to depth or injuries or the flow of the game, he’s been able to step in there and produce. West has Jaylen Neely, one of the county’s top RBs, but the Falcons used Kennedy as a tailback some in the Carson game to give Neely a breather.

“Evan has thrived in every role we’ve asked him to be in for four years,” West head coach Louis Kraft said. “From a young freshman wideout to a running back getting the majority of the carries as a sophomore, to handling both roles the last two seasons. He always has led the way. He has worked himself into being the standard.”

Kraft played tight end during West Rowan glory days. He said Kennedy would have no problem fitting in on the finest teams the Falcons have ever assembled.

“For better or worse, players always get compared to each other,” Kraft said. “I’m not going to sit here and tell you Evan is as good a running back as KP Parks was or as talented a receiver as Lamont Savage was. But Evan does both things at an extremely high level. He could have played for those great West teams. He’s got a special versatility that puts him in a category with a small handful of great players . He’s like a Jon Crucitti, a Trey Mashore, an Eric Cowan.”

Kennedy got his first Division I offer from Gardner-Webb back in April. Some schools like him as a running back, but some like him better as a receiver. Kennedy said Charleston Southern is a school that has talked to him about being employed in a multi-dimensional role as both a receiver and a running back, similar to what he’s done at West Rowan. His recruitment is still wide open, but his versatility will give him options and choices and he’s going to make some college coach very happy.

“I’ve really loved running and receiving and getting to do both in the same game,” Kennedy said. “It makes me feel very free to know I can move around and help the team in different ways, depending on who we’re playing. We usually can find a way to get the ball in my hands.”

While his versatility has made him a difficult athlete to contain for many years, the 5-foot-11 Kennedy continues to work to get better. He made serious gains in weight and strength in the past off-season.

“I’d been playing at 185 or maybe 190, but I’m 200 pounds now,” Kennedy said. “I can feel the difference when I run into guys.”

He eluded quite a few tackles on Friday, but he also broke some. He’s not a guy who’s going to get arm-tackled. A shove isn’t going to faze him. You’ve got to wrap him up. And then you’ve got to hope help is coming.

He’s one of the special ones and he has been for a long time.

“With the ball in his hands, Evan is looking to punish tacklers,” Kraft said. “It’s like he’s playing with an anvil on his shoulder.”