By Mike London
mike.london@salisburypost.com

KANNAPOLIS — The A.L. Brown Wonders had quite a few drops on Friday at Memorial Stadium, but Derick Brazil snagged the key throw of the night by quarterback CJ Gray like he had glue on his fingers.

Gray, a promising pitcher on the baseball diamond, whipped a strike and found Brazil, splitting West’s deep defenders and heading to the post for the 21-yard touchdown that proved decisive in a 38-27 A.L. Brown victory.

Until that huge play with five minutes left, it appeared West might put an end to decades of frustration against the Wonders. West has won only one of 19 meetings and has never tasted victory against the Wonders in Kannapolis.

“We had a lot of things going against us, so it was kind of crazy that we were still winning with five minutes left,” West head coach Louis Kraft said.

It wasn’t a great week for the Falcons. West got discouraging news on running back Kayvone Norman’s knee. Expected to be the featured running back, the senior will be sidelined all season by an ACL tear and obviously also will miss the basketball season. He is West’s point guard.

West expects massive things from versatile offensive star Evan Kennedy, but Kennedy was battling cramps for much of Friday’s second half.

West lost strong safety Kendrick Cornelius to a turf toe injury during the contest.

“That put us in a bad spot,” Kraft said.

It was a successful head-coaching debut in Kannapolis for former Wonder QB Justin Hardin, who leads a resilient bunch that made a fine comeback. There were times in the first half when the Falcons appeared to be in control. West had the ball, up two scores, but couldn’t knock the Wonders out.

The excitement started early, with a long kickoff return by the Wonders to the West 15. The Falcons got the stop, but a 28-yard field goal gave A.L. Brown a 3-0 lead.

West answered quickly, The Falcons’ second snap resulted in a 60-yard touchdown dash by Jaylen Neely. With Norman out, Neely will play a major role for the Falcons. The PAT failed, but the Falcons led 6-3.

West made it 13-3 with another sudden strike late in the first quarter. Sophomore QB Brant Graham threw to Kaden Feaster in the flat on a second-down play, and after Feaster made the first would-be tackler miss, he sprinted by everyone in green for a 43-yard scoring play.

Early in the second quarter, A.L. Brown converted a third-and-9 with a Gray pass, benefited from a 15-yard penalty and drove 63 yards for the touchdown that cut West’s lead to 13-10. Gray hurdled defenders and scored the six points from the 11. The PAT cut the Falcons’ lead to 13-10,

Once again, West wasted to time in answering. Neely made a gliding kickoff return to the A.L. Brown 25. That set up Graham for a TD from the 1 to boost West’s lead to 19-10.

When the Wonders went three-and-out, the Falcons seemed on the verge of taking charge. One more touchdown at that point might have done it.

But they were stopped near midfield, and a high snap on a punting attempt gave the Wonders a chance to fight back. They did just that — on a determined 16-yard run by Mekhi Herron, the workhorse back. That TD meant West went to the locker room at halftime up 19-17 instead of 19-10.

In the third quarter, A.L. Brown won the punting battle, and the result was awful field position for the Falcons. West had to start a drive on its 2-yard line, went three-and-out and could only get the punt out to the West 25.

‘We didn’t field a punt in the third quarter, it rolled deep and we were in tough field position for the rest of the quarter,” Kraft said. “We had the injury and cramps bug bad and had to throw a DB group together on the fly.”

Five plays, all runs by either Gray or Herron put the ball in the end zone. Herron finished that short-field drive form the 8-yard-line. The PAT put the Wonders ahead 24-19.

Graham, Neely and Feaster made plays as the Falcons went back in front one more time. They moved 62 yards to score. Neely got the drive started with a 12-yard run before Graham and Feaster connected for 33 yards. Neely netted 15 yards on two carries to push the ball to the 2, and Graham put it in the end zone behind a relentless push by the offensive line. Then Graham hit Dakota Athey for a 2-point conversion and a 27-24 West lead.

A.L. Brown drove, but the Falcons got a stop at the West 27 with under eight minutes left in the game.

But penalties pushed the Falcons back, and on fourth down, they could only punt to the West 38, presenting the Wonders with another short-field opportunity.

Six plays later, Gray and Brazil connected for the pivotal TD that put the Wonders ahead to stay.

Next, a desperate West pass deep downfield was intercepted by Ethan Garmon. His rumbling return to the West 18 led to a clinching score by Gray on a 7-yard run.

“We had a lot of explosive plays and we played hard like we always do,” Kraft said. “We just couldn’t finish this one off, but we can’t wait to get after it again next week.”

West will host Davie (0-1) next week. A.L. Brown will be at home against Northwest Cabarrus (1-0).