By Mike London

mike.london@salisburypost.com

SALISBURY — Salisbury football has lambasted Lexington for a long time.

The Hornets have won eight in a row in the series and, believe it or not, 20 of the last 21.

Salisbury didn’t lose a single game to Lexington during Joe Pinyan’s decade as head coach. Lexington’s lone win in a long stretch of misery against Salisbury was the 2015 game that the Yellow Jackets pulled out by a field goal.

The most relevant games as far as evaluating what will happen this year — the last three — have been won 44-13, 40-6 and 65-0 by the Hornets.

Still, the Hornets (7-1, 4-0) were focused and attentive at Tuesday’s practice because they’ve been hearing about a different Lexington, a new Lexington, a more dangerous Lexington, since June.

Lexington head coach Charles Morman, the former Catawba defensive back, started getting the wheels back on the track at the school in  2023 and Lexington’s transformation has continued under Morman this season. The Yellow Jackets are 5-2 and 3-0 in the Central Carolina Conference, so Friday’s game at Salisbury’s historic Ludwig Stadium will be the most significant in the series in many years.

Salisbury head coach Clayton Trivett was a teammate of Morman’s during their college days at Catawba. He lauds Lexington’s defensive ends and praises Morman’s team as a legit threat to the Hornets and for the Central Carolina Conference title.

Mitch Ellis, a Salisbury-Rowan Hall of Famer who was a super quarterback at North Rowan and at Catawba, is the offensive coordinator for Lexington, which will add to the excitement.

The Hornets will look for another big game from QB Hank Webb, who is having a stellar season, with a school-record 21 touchdown passes. The Hornets have put it in the air early and often, more than any team in the county, and Webb is closing on Mike Geter’s school record for passing yards in a season as well. Receivers Macari House and Jay’lin Johnson have combined for 16 TD catches.

Leading rusher Hez Krider (67 carries, 396 yards) returned to action last week for Salisbury after missing games with a knee issue.

Torian Brown has three interceptions.

“We’re deep, we’re pretty healthy for this point in the season and our guys have been playing better than anyone thought they could,” Trivett said. “Lexington is good, but if we play the way we’re supposed to play, we’ll be OK.”

The Massey Ratings favor the Hornets by 34 points, with a 96 percent win probability, but that’s based primarily on history. It looks to be a much closer game than that.

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South Rowan’s entertaining defensive coordinator Ronnie Riddle said the Raiders don’t worry about the schedule much. They prepare every week like they’re going to play Alabama.

South (3-4, 2-2) will get to play a high school version of Alabama on Friday at home. Robinson (7-0, 5-0) is really good and is favored to at least temporarily put a stop to the good times at South. The Bulldogs are favored by 42 points.

Robinson rolled South 65-0 in 2023 and has outscored the Raiders 150-0 during the last three seasons.

The unspoken goal for the Raiders is to get through this one healthy because they have a great chance to make the playoffs if they can beat East Rowan and Carson.

If Brooks Overcash can throw a TD pass against Robinson — that won’t be easy — he’ll tie Blake Houston’s school record for career TD passes (29).

South beat Robinson 35-21 when the programs first squared off in 2009 — Houston was the QB that night — but the Bulldogs have won all six meetings since then.

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While West Rowan was kicked to the curb by Robinson last week, the Falcons (3-4, 2-2) aren’t in bad shape. They still are a playoff team if they can regroup and handle Central Cabarrus, Concord and East Rowan down the stretch.

West beat Central 37-26 last year and has handled the Vikings (1-6, 1-3) six straight times since the Vikings prevailed in 2013. West only leads the all-time series 11-9 because the Vikings had success against the Falcons in the 1980s and early 1990s.

West’s Evan Kennedy is third in Rowan rushing (518 yards) and fourth in receiving (490 yards). He has over 2,000 career receiving yards and could reach that milestone in rushing yards, as well.

West is a 28-point favorite, even on the road, and is given a 91 percent win probability by the Massey Ratings

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The Massey Ratings say Carson will win by 30 points at East Rowan, but it looks to be a closer game than that.

Carson’s roster suffered key disciplinary deletions last week, while East showed its first offensive spark of the season with 20 first-half points in a loss to Central Cabarrus.

Carson (2-5, 0-4) or East (0-7, 0-4) is going to get its first victory of the season in the South Piedmont Conference.

Carson has an 11-7 lead in the all-time series and has taken three in a row in the rivalry since the Mustangs won 43-40 in the COVID season. Carson won 39-18 in 2023.

WSAT will broadcast the action.

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North Rowan travels to West Davidson on Friday as a 30-point favorite with a 94 percent win probability, but the Green Dragons (4-3, 1-2), who beat Thomasville and competed well against Lexington, obviously are the best they’ve been in a number of years. They look like a sure playoff team as they should win remaining games against East Davidson and South Davidson without serious trouble.

North stomped the Green Dragons 48-6 in 2023, hung 50s on West Davidson in 2021 and 2022, and hasn’t lost in the series since 2008. The Cavaliers (5-2, 3-0) lead the all-time series 21-4.

Record-setting QB Jeremiah Alford leads North. He’s thrown for 1,421 yards and 18 TDs. while completing 60 percent of his passes.

Jo Jo Tarver is Rowan’s leading rusher with 88 carries for 732 yards. Emari Russell has 27 catches for 560 yards. Mike Alford and Nick Morrow are tied for first in the county with three interceptions.

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A.L. Brown is 3-0 at home, but the road has been a shakier proposition for the Wonders, and they’ll play in another game that should go down to the wire on Friday when they travel to the Troutman/Barium Springs area to take on Greater Metro Conference foe South Iredell (4-3, 2-1).

South Iredell took its first league loss last week, but the Vikings weren’t blown away by Mooresville, the GMC’s top dog. Meanwhile, the Wonders were losing to West Cabarrus on a last-second field goal.

A.L. Brown (4-3, 2-2)  is favored to beat the Vikings one point, with a 21-20 score projection. The Wonders have a win probability of 52 percent, according to the Massey Ratings.

The Wonders lead the series 6-1, with the Vikings’ lone success coming in the 2017 state playoffs.

The Wonders won 28-14 in 2023.