Staff report

SPENCER — North Rowan was favored by about six touchdowns in Friday’s first-round 1A state playoff game, but an unfamiliar opponent caused problems with a full-house backfield and a 1950s-style offense.

Based on the NCHSAA’s RPI ratings, 26th-seeded Cherryville (3-8) was one of the weaker teams to get into the playoffs, but fans at Eagle Stadium were treated to an interesting ballgame. North trailed twice in the first quarter but was able to outscore Cherryville 41-34 and advanced to Round 2.

The seventh-seeded Cavaliers (7-4) had a tough time prying the ball away from Cherryville’s methodical, ground-and-pound offense, but when North had the ball, the Cavaliers knew what to do with it. They put it in the end zone.

“It was a strange one,” North head coach Josh Sophia said. “Cherryville came out in T formation, something we had not seen from them on any film, and they just kind of shoved it on us 4 yards at a clip. We rarely had the ball, but we scored when we did. We only had two possessions in the second half before we had a kneel-down at the end,”

North also was playing with a different look, with Michael Alford at quarterback and Jeremiah Alford at running back.

Michael only threw the ball four times, but had three TD passes. Jeremiah had a 45-yard completion on a halfback pass and ran for 79 yards and a touchdown.

North scored first on Michael Alford’s pass to Khi Walker, but the PAT kick failed. Cherryville answered with a touchdown and went ahead 8-6 with a 2-point conversion.

Jeremiah Alford’s 3-yard scoring run put North back on top 12-8, but Jackson Heavner scored the first of his three rushing TDs for the Ironmen to create another lead change. The Cavaliers stopped the 2-point conversion.

Then A’son Best returned Cherryville’s kickoff 65 yards for a touchdown. That may have been the biggest play of the night. That made it 18-14 and put North ahead to stay. Jo Jo Tarver’s 2-point conversion run boosted the Cavaliers’ lead to 20-14. Michael Alford hit Best with a TD pass for a 26-14 lead.

Heavner scored again to cut North’s lead to 26-20. Michael Alford threw a 7-yard scoring pass to Emari Russell to stretch the lead to 32-20, and Jeremiah Alford’s 2-point conversion run ended the scoring in a wild first half. North led 34-20 at the break.

After things settled down in the third quarter, Cherryville closed the gap to 34-26 when Heavner scored with six minutes left in the game.

Then North was able to put together a clinching drive. Tarver, who had 116 rushing yards on 10 carries, finished it. He scored with two minutes left for a 40-26 lead, and Salim Shamman added a PAT kick.

Cherryville got another touchdown in the final minute on a long pass, and tacked on a 2-point conversion for the final score.

Next for the Cavaliers will be a home game against 10th-seeded East Wilkes. East Wilkes (9-2) beat Albemarle 49-28 on Friday.