By Mike London
mlondon@salisburypost.com
LANDIS ó South Rowan produced 372 rushing yards last Friday in a 52-0 rout of North Iredell that gave the Raiders a 5-4 NPC record.
South earned its first winning league mark since 2001, and the body language of the offensive line told the story.
“To see them out there laughing, having fun and slapping each other on the head made everyone feel really good,” O-line coach Brian Blackwell said.
Tackle Adam Mann, 6-foot-1, 275 pounds, has overcome hearing deficiencies to take part in South’s comeback. Mann has 70 percent hearing in his right ear ó and that’s the good one.
“My left ear is almost deaf,” Mann said. “That means I’ve got to be on the left side of the line. It can be hard to hear the quarterback’s cadence. Sometimes I get penalties because I didn’t hear the referee’s whistle.”
Mann took his sophomore year off, and South’s 3-8 mark his junior year almost discouraged him from returning this season.
“He hated losing and took it hard,” South head coach Jason Rollins explained. “He was coming to stuff all summer, but he was worried about what this season would hold. He didn’t want to be disappointed again.”
Mann had all but decided against playing, but team chaplain Joe Mason helped convince him to give it a try. Rollins, Blackwell and assistant Steve London put in encouraging calls.
“I was a little discouraged, but then I realized what I would have been missing and I didn’t want to let teammates down,” Mann said. “Then the first game of the season I had a good game against Salisbury. I had a hit they showed on TV.”South hasn’t had a super season, but it’s had a pretty good one, including a three-game winning streak. That streak started with a win against rival Carson. Mann played forcefully against the Cougars, but he was ejected late in the action.
His recollection is someone grabbed his face mask, people started pushing, and he reacted.
It was a physical scenario that cost him three games. A one-game team suspension and a two-game penalty from the state.
“It was three weeks, but I told myself it was three bye weeks, and I put in a lot of lifting,” Mann said. “I practiced hard. I still was on the sideline in my jersey keeping guys pumped up.”
Blackwell said Mann, who has a big frame and the nasty, on-field attitude coaches like to see, boosted his bench press 40 pounds during his “bye weeks,” and he returned for the West Rowan game.
“He was going up against Chris Smith, and I thought he did a pretty good job against him,” Blackwell said.
Mann then took part in a sweet victory when South rolled at North Iredell. South hadn’t thumped anyone so convincingly since it routed East Rowan and Berry in 2003.
“It’s always about the team, but the O-line did its job,” Mann said. “We made some wide holes.”
A fun night for everyone.
“Adam comes by about once a week and thanks us for talking him into playing,” Rollins said. “He’s not a kid who likes to be put on a pedestal. He just likes to block. He’s been a big part of our O-line leadership, and he had one whale of a game against North Iredell.”
Deandre Harris is 19 rushing yards short of 1,000, a goal the O-line takes into Friday’s game at powerful South Point. It will be South Rowan’s first playoff game since 2003, and Mann understands the significance.
“It’s a new South Rowan,” he said. “It’s been great to be part of a new beginning.”