By Ronnie Gallagher
rgallagher@salisburypost.com
MOUNT ULLA ó As a defensive coordinator, West Rowan’s David Hunt loves to see a defender reach the end zone ó for obvious reasons.
“They never get to touch the durn football,” Hunt said after watching three of his defensive Falcons score in the Falcons’ 69-0 thumping of East Rowan last week.
Usually, it’s guys like K.P. Parks who get the glory of hitting paydirt while defenders such as Dylan Andrews just get to … well, hit.
“They get to look at other guys playing with the football, even in practice,” Hunt said of the defense. “You watch a bunch of linemen together and they always think they’re quarterbacks. They want to throw the ball. And it’s something they can’t have.”
Andrews got to smell the end zone on Friday. He deserved it. He recovered three fumbles in the game, the last for a score. It was the first time in Scott Young’s tenure as head coach that one of his players has pounced on three loose balls in one game.
“It felt good,” said Andrews, a man of few words but a man of many plays.
In the muck and rain at East Rowan, Andrews said he was simply in the right place at the right time. Three times.
Andrews made his presence felt quickly. On the second play from scrimmage, a hard hit by West’s defensive line made the ball bounce onto the ground.
“It came out right in front of me,” said Andrews, the drop end. “I jumped on it.”
Fumble No. 2 was the result of a fumble by the east quarterback.
“I was right there again,” Andrews said.
The last recovery was the sweetest. East Rowan’s punter never got his kick off while standing in the end zone.
“He whiffed at it,” Andrews said. “The ball was right there.”
Touchdown, Dylan Andrews.
Young loved it for his defender, who has been in the program for four years and has finally made it onto the field as a full-time starter in his senior season.
“He did a nice job in the weight room developing himself into a Friday night starter,” Young said. “He has been real steady. That’s the best way to put it. He doesn’t make a lot of mistakes.
“There’s not a lot of highlights, either.”
Until now.
Something that needs to be noted, according to Young, is that Andrews made the plays because he was penetrating and outplaying his opponent.
“You’ve got to be around the football to get fumble recoveries,” Young understated.
Andrews admitted to gloating a little after he scored.
“K.P. came up to me,” Andrews chuckled. “We have a class together and I joke around with him all the time about scoring a touchdown. He got a kick out of it. I’m going for his records.”
Hunt seemed to enjoy the scores and Andrews’ three recoveries as much as the players.
“They’re tickled to death when they score,” he said. “And we’re tickled to death for them when they score.”
So now that Andrews has a taste of what his buddy Parks gets on offense, does he have anything up his sleeve when West plays host to Lake Norman on Friday?
“Three interceptions, maybe?” Andrews said.
Andrews obviously likes touching that durn football.