By Mike London
mike.london@salisburypost.com

MOUNT ULLA — West Rowan out-hit a physical team and made it look easy in the first round of the 3A state playoffs on Friday.

The 15th-seeded Falcons pounded 18th-seeded Franklin 35-7 to get to Round 2.

Not that it was a slice of birthday cake, but it was way more one-sided than expected.

“Franklin has tough guys, they’re big and they play a bullying style of football,” West coach Louis Kraft said. “We liked our speed matchup and we did beat them in space a few times, but mostly I thought we beat them at their own game. We controlled the line of scrimmage.”

West’s offense was propelled by a dominating effort up front.

“They looked really big on film, but our offensive line was fantastic — anyone that got in front of them they were moving them 5 yards off the football,” West QB Lucas Graham said. “And then Landon (Jacobs) and Kayvone (Norman) were running over some more guys.”

Jacobs (112) and Norman (75) combined for 187 yards on 37 smash-mouth carries. Both contributed a short touchdown run, while Graham capped two drives himself with quarterback sneaks.

West’s other touchdown came on an 80-yard pass play from Graham to Adrian Stockton. The ball traveled over the middle about 15 yards in the air, but as he has done all season when he can catch it in stride, Stockton made tacklers miss and was gone.

Graham, the starting quarterback for the first time as a senior, surpassed 2,000 passing yards on the season. He lost a season of development to a broken collarbone on opening night as a sophomore, so he’s been a remarkable story.

Stockton, who had only a handful of catches last season, blossomed into a 1,000-yard receiver. He’s shown he has the hands to go with his wheels. He’s had 332 receiving yards the past two weeks.

“He’s been big all season, but especially with Evan Kennedy being out the last two weeks, he’s played even bigger,” Graham said. “He’s a playmaker and I just have to get him the ball.”

West’s defense came up with four turnovers, including two interceptions by Lee Vaughters.

The first possession may have been the most important. Both teams were ready to be physical. West won that psychological and muscular battle. West imposed its will.

West got great field position when Tanner Poole returned a diagonal opening kickoff near the West 40 and then got hit late out of bounds. The penalty moved the ball to the Franklin 46. With Jacobs doing most of the mashing, the Falcons put it in the end zone. Graham got the touchdown.

“Right down the field to score and everyone had a good feeling that it was going to be a good night for the Falcons,” Kraft said. “The tone was set.”

Franklin (6-5) threatened on its first possession, but safety Jacob Perry picked off a pass in the West end zone. That was the single biggest defensive play.

Graham connected with Stockton on the next snap. It was his 17th touchdown pass. A one-play drive for 80 yards. Juan Arteaga’s PAT made it 14-0, and the visitors who had made a 150-mile trip, were reeling.

After another West stop, the Falcons drove for 21-0. Lots of Jacobs and lots of Norman. Graham got the TD.

In the second quarter, Franklin got back to 21-7 when QB Davis Anders hit a big pass play and then scored from the 1.

Franklin may have been able to make it a game had it stopped the Falcons’ next possession, but West wasn’t interested in being stopped. The o-line pounded. Graham hit Stockton for a major  chunk, and Norman found the end zone for 28-7 with 45 seconds left in the half. That was a backbreaker.

Vaughters made the first of his two interceptions moments later.

West wasn’t stopped in a satisfying first half and carried a 28-7 lead to the break.

When the Falcons began the second half with another dynamic defensive stop, it was clearly over.

“Since the Central Cabarrus game (Oct. 14), something clicked for our defense,” Graham said. “They’ve been great every week.”

With 7:05 left in the third quarter, Jacobs finished another West drive for a 35-7 edge.

Poole had two big catches for the Falcons, including one on a dig route to convert a third-and-15.

Canyon Turner had a fourth-quarter fumble recovery.

Franklin played at least a half-dozen players both ways, so West had a fatigue advantage. Two of Franklin’s best athletes (Ty Handley and Brayden Watts) were knocked out of the game by injuries.  While the score was still two touchdowns shy of a mandatory running clock after a lengthy quarter, Franklin requested a running clock for the fourth quarter. Kraft was surprised, but he agreed.

Handley, a rugged, 215-pound back was the player the Falcons game-planned for. They were able to wear him down, especially when he was on defense.

“He’s a good football player, but he was playing the boundary safety on defense, we were getting their guys blocked and he was having to make a lot of one-on-one tackles against big backs,” Kraft said.

It was a first-round breeze compared to West Rowan’s exciting overtime victory at North Lincoln that kicked off the 2021 playoffs.

The Falcons aren’t complaining. Sometimes it’s OK to minimize the excitement. It felt good to dominate.

“It was a solid performance,” Kraft said. “Now we’ve got to take that same kind of energy and focus on the road next week.”

West Rowan will play at No. 2 seed West Henderson.

West Henderson (11-0) is undefeated but had its hands full against No. 31 North Davidson in the first round before pulling away to win 45-28.

 

Franklin   0   7  0   0   — 7

West       21   7   7   0   — 35

Scoring plays

WR — Graham 1 run (Arteaga kick), 1st

WR — Stockton 80 pass from Graham (Arteaga kick), 1st

WR —  Graham 1 run (Arteaga kick), 1st

F – Anders 2 run (Riddle kick), 2nd

WR — Norman 1 run (Arteaga kick), 2nd

WR — Jacobs 1 run (Arteaga kick), 3rd

Individual stats

Rushing — Franklin: Handley 10-42; Brown 6-22; Hervey 1-13; Watt 5-8; Anders 1-2. WR: Jacobs 20-112; Norman 17-75; Graham 3-6; Neely 3-3.

Passing — Franklin: Anders 10-19-2. WR: Graham 7-13-1, 204.

Receiving — Franklin: Paulson 2-53; Watt 3-31; Waldroop 3-30; Brown 1-25; Cabe 2-3. WR: Stockton 5-175; Poole 2-29.

 

See photo gallery from the game here https://www.salisburypost.com/2022/11/05/photo-gallery-3/