By Mike London
mike.london@salisburypost.com

LANDIS — Winning four football games in a season isn’t news in most communities, but at South Rowan it’s a feat that hasn’t happened in 15 years.

Victory No. 4 for the Raiders came on Friday, a 33-7 win against East Rowan that was never in doubt after two big plays — a 67-yard punt return TD by Jadon Moore and Brooks Overcash’s 79-yard bomb to Marshal Faw — provided a 13-0 lead.

It was kind of wild and kind of sloppy with flags flying and eight turnovers between the two teams, but it was exciting. South (4-5, 3-3) was thrilled to pound out its third South Piedmont Conference win on Senior Night, as it honored a large group that will leave the program better than they found it.

“The main goal all season long was to be playing in a game the last week of the season that really meant something,” head coach Chris Walsh said. “OK, now we’re here. Now we’re playing one that means an awful lot.”

South will play that game at rival Carson on Carson’s Senior Night this Friday. South is perched precariously at No. 31 in the 3A West RPI rankings. Thirty-two teams will make the playoff bracket. A lot can happen on that final, freaky Friday as the winning percentages and opponents’ winning percentages that determine the RPI rankings fluctuate with each reported result from the Piedmont, to the foothills to the mountains. South isn’t certain to get in the playoffs even if it wins at Carson, but the Raiders realize there’s almost no way they can make it if they lose.

“We’ve got a chance, and that’s what we’ve worked for,” Walsh said. “Basically, we’ve been playing with a playoff mindset for a month. The Central Cabarrus game. The Concord game. The East game. All playoff games for us. We know if we can get in the playoffs for the first time in 15 years, we get to play at least one more game together, and that’s a lot of motivation for our guys.”

Sirens blared after every South touchdown against the Mustangs. The last three sirens were triggered by running back Bryson Frieze, who was injured early in the season, but has been a bucking bronco since he returned about a month ago. Frieze had a career game with 21 carries for 127 yards. He galloped through school-bus sized holes created by fullbacks Conner Richards and Owen Smith and the Raiders’ offensive line.

South’s power running game opened up passing lanes for quarterback Brooks Overcash, who responded with one of the biggest games of his career. He piled up 248 passing yards on only 14 attempts. The TD pass to Faw was his 30th, a school career record. Faw and Moore both topped 100 receiving yards against the Mustangs.

East quarterback Will Klingler put the ball in the air 36 times and completed 13 for 211 yards. East’s TD came on a Klingler pass to PJ Butler that made it 20-7 in the middle of the third quarter, but the Mustangs could get no closer.

East (0-9, 0-6) got 134 receiving yards from Butler, who also picked off a pass.

Jayden Peters was credited with 1.5 sacks for the Mustangs. Jayden Riley and Ashur Tesh forced fumbles.

South’s defense had five interceptions with Zach Barham getting two and Cameron Barth, Gavin Bisco and Richards getting one each.

Richards and Bryan Velasquez made eight tackles each for the Raiders.

“Frieze lost a fumble and was being really hard on himself in the third quarter, but Richards got his pick on the very next play,” Walsh said. “He runs off the field and tells Frieze he’s got his back, and then Frieze goes back out there and gives us some big runs and gets the touchdown that made it 20-0. There’s a lot of love on this team, a lot of brotherhood.”

East never quit, but the Mustangs are likely headed for another 0-10 season. They’ll be big underdogs when they finish against playoff-bound West Rowan.

“East fought hard, gave us a great game,” Walsh said. “They’ve got some really good players and really good coaches.”