By Mike London
mike.london@salisburypost.com

LANDIS — Like every potential football hero, South Rowan quarterback Brooks Overcash entered his first jayvee game with hopes of being carried off the field on the shoulders of his teammates.

Instead, he was carried off the field by an ambulance.

“I was pretty nervous, and then that first snap of the game was bad, and I can remember chasing the football,” Overcash said. “I got hit, felt some pain and then I looked down at my knee, and it was like, ‘Oh, man.'”

Overcash had a broken leg. His freshman football season had lasted one play.

No one would have blamed Overcash if he’d lost the love for the game right then and there, but he came back stronger. Even with zero jayvee experience, he won the starting job for the South varsity as a sophomore. He took his share of lumps for a sophomore-heavy 1-9 team, but by the end of the season, he was winging it  with authority — 294 passing yards for a school record against East Rowan in South’s ninth game; 295 yards to re-set the record against Carson a week later.

Those two games allowed Overcash to finish his sophomore season with respectable numbers and more than 1,000 passing yards, but he was a long way from satisfied, especially by a stat sheet that showed 13 interceptions vs. 11 TD passes.

“I wasn’t very happy with how I played,” Overcash said. “I spent the whole offseason trying to get better. I studied the offense. I worked out. I ran. I found teammates to throw to whenever I could.”

Overcash is still a work in progress, but when you refuse to get outworked by anyone, you start making strides. He’s as strong as a lineman now, and strength builds confidence. He’s not flamboyant or loud, but he’s a leader, and you need your quarterback to be a leader in the huddle and at the line of scrimmage.

“Brooks definitely can throw the football,” South head coach Chris Walsh said. “But the big difference between him now and at this time last season is his understanding of our offense. He’s become a master of our offense.”

Walsh, Overcash and the Raiders were in an unusual position on opening night. Almost always the underdog, South was cast in the role of favorite, playing at home against 1A Union Academy Charter.

It was an opening night that also included an harsh element of sadness. South art teacher Jacqueline “Jackie” Elliott” had died unexpectedly at 53, two days earlier. In her memory, there was a red “JE” in huge letters at midfield.

Her husband, Jeremy, went out with the captains for the pregame coin toss.

“It was a shock for the school, and I know it hit some guys on the team hard,” Overcash said. “I didn’t have her for a teacher, but we all know Blythe Elliott (a South senior athlete, who is Jeremy and Jackie’s daughter) and we really wanted to win the game for the Elliotts.”

South didn’t have running back Landon Richards, who is expected to lead the ground game, but Overcash had the passing game operating smoothly in the early going. South took a 7-0 lead on Overcash’s sideline pass to Marshal Faw. Faw did the rest.

“I got it to Marshall on a bubble, and he’s a guy who will make plays,” Overcash said. “We knew they weren’t great tacklers, and Marshal was gone after the first guy missed.”

South made it 14-0 when Overcash pitched to Faw, who threw downfield to Jadon Moore. Faw is a baseball pitcher with a sturdy arm, and he and Moore executed the surprise halfback pass to perfection.

South expanded its lead to 21-0 when Overcash threw another touchdown pass to Faw.

“That play was designed to go to our tight end (Alex Furr) down the middle, but they had a lot of guys around him,” Overcash said. “I came off Alex and saw Marshal was open deep. I think that’s where I’ve gotten better. I’ve known how to throw it, but now I’ve got a better feel for when and where to throw it.”

South went to halftime in control of the game, but Union Academy wasn’t done. Momentum turned in the third quarter. Union County rallied and made it a scrap.

The pressure was on South. It was a game the Raiders could not afford to lose.

“They had a very good quarterback (Parker St. Clair) and he made plays,” Walsh said. “And I got a little conservative in the second half because I wanted to get our running game going and use the clock. We wanted to grind it some and rest our defense. But I’m Brooks’ position coach as well as his head coach and we spend a lot of time together. We can talk to each other. He walks over to me and he says, ‘Coach, we need to throw the ball.’ I could see he wanted the ball in his hands, and that was another step in his development. When you play the quarterback position, you’ve got to also have a quarterback mentality, and he’s getting  that now. It was like, ‘You want the ball, kid, well, OK, you’ve got it.'”

Overcash threw his third touchdown pass of the night, a deep ball to Moore, to get some momentum back.

He hit more passes as South finished off a 36-22 victory with fourth-quarter scoring drives. Battering ram Conner Richards, Landon’s brother, finished a march with a rushing TD, and Moore, who can do a little bit of everything, kicked a 41-yard field goal to close the scoring.

Statistically, Overcash has thrown for bigger numbers, but his 11-for-16 for 185 yards came in a victory. Three TD passes, with no interceptions and no sacks was a satisfying night. That showed serious growth. That made those long offseason hours of studying South’s pass routes worthwhile.

“I’ve racked up a lot more yards when we were trying to come from behind, but this was the most efficient game I’ve had,” Overcash said. “This is the best I’ve run our offense, so I believe this was the best game I’ve played.”

It was the second anniversary of that awful opening night on which he exited the field in an ambulance. Overcash has come a long way in two years, and he’s going to be around for a while. If he can stay healthy, he can break all of South’s passing records.

There were plenty of heroes for the Raiders. Besides Overcash, Moore and Faw, Ashton Frampton had two sacks and linebacker James Ritchie made a team-high eight tackles.

“We talked about a lot of guys who deserved the game ball, but we all knew where this game ball needed to go,” Walsh said. “This one went to the Elliott family. This South Rowan win was dedicated to them.”