By Mike London
mlondon@salisburypost.com
LANDIS ó By the second quarter, WRNA “Raider Radio” abandoned NPC football and started chatting about politics.
There just wasn’t anything more for Carl Ford and Bob Parker to say about West Rowan’s 56-7 romp against South Rowan on Friday.
K.P. Parks rolled for 234 yards and four touchdowns as West dominated the line of scrimmage and won its 29th straight game against county foes. West didn’t play Salisbury, but it mauled the other four Rowan teams 223-7. Carson can brag it held the Falcons to 48 points. South can boast that it managed to score against West.
Quarterback B.J. Sherrill was as effective as Parks, shredding the Raiders for 199 yards and a pair of TD passes to Brantley Horton.
Any thoughts that West (9-1, 8-0) might be drained physically or emotionally by Monday’s double-overtime victory against Lake Norman were put to rest early.
“The coaches challenged us to play with more emotion than we did Monday,” said Horton, who made his ninth and 10th TD receptions. “Our big boys up front dominated, and our defensive line was dominant. We’re a physical football team. Two games in a week isn’t going to bother us.”
South’s best moments were Josh Wike’s kickoff returns, but it returned kickoffs more frequently than is recommended.
South (4-6, 4-4) had momentum for a few minutes, as quarterback Blake Houston broke a 57-yard run on the second play from scrimmage to the West 20. South had fourth-and-2 at the 12, but when Deandre Harris took a pitch and tried to break outside, Marco Gupton read the play and rode down Harris in the backfield.
South has a smashmouth game, an option game and a passing game, and West’s defense stuffed all three. Corner A.J. Little made two interceptions, including one leaping grab.
“We’ve never shied away from giving credit to the other team, and Lake Norman played outstanding against us Monday and we did not play well,” said West coach Scott Young, who chalked up his eighth straight win against the Raiders.
“South is tremendously improved and they’ve proved that by beating good teams, but they caught us at a bad time. They had some key guys out (linemen Justin Hall, Kelsey Robinson and Zach Beasley weren’t in action) and our guys were eager and hungry to redeem themselves.”
On its first possession, West pounded 80 yards in nine plays for a 7-0 lead. Parks broke a 27-yard run to the 1. Then he glided into the end zone standing on the next snap.
After a Kenderic Dunlap sack stopped South’s second possession, a 30-yard punt return by Jon Crucitti gave West field position, and Parks bolted for a quick TD and a 14-0 lead.
West went on to score on its first six possessions, with Parks’ runs setting up pinpoint passes by Sherrill.
Sherrill was on target after a 3-for-16 effort against Lake Norman.
“The line gave me time Monday, but I just had a bad game,” the stocky sophomore said. “Tonight I knew I just had to have have a good game, and we all took care of business.”
Trailing 35-0 late in the first half, South wideout B.J. Grant slipped behind West’s defense and Houston delivered a strike for a 42-yard TD.
The Falcons weren’t fazed. They answered with a 66-yard Sherrill-to-Horton TD 19 seconds after Grant’s touchdown for a 42-7 halftime lead.
Parks had seven carries after halftime before calling it a night, and Sherrill and Tim Flanagan ran for the only scores after the break.
“We had more emotion and more fun tonight,” Parks said. “Football’s all about fun, and we expect it to be like that from here on out.”
South coach Jason Rollins figures the fun is only starting for West.
“A lot of our guys went to watch them play Lake Norman and came back thinking, ‘Hey, those guys are beatable,’ ” Rollins said. “But West was ticked tonight, and I commend Scott for having a great football team. I don’t know how many cylinders you can have, but they were clicking on every one of them.”