By David Shaw

For the Salisbury Post

SALISBURY — Go ahead and book a room for Salisbury running back Jamal Rule.

The elusive junior is going to be around for a while, especially if he keeps delivering the kind of star-is-born performance he offered Friday night in a runaway 65-7 victory against visiting East Rowan. Rule scored five touchdowns and rushed for 264 yards, sparking the unbeaten Hornets to their third straight lopsided win.

“Jamal’s a special player,” SHS coach Clayton Trivett said, just moments after the Hornets amassed 568 yards total offense and reached the end zone on five of their first six possessions. “We knew he was good last year, when he lined up behind JyMikaah (Wells). This year he’s been special.”

He was lights-out against East (0-3). Rule opened the scoring just 1:45 into the game when he snared a 9-yard touchdown pass from senior quarterback Mike Geter. He later ran for four TDs, including a 51-yard romp that put Salisbury ahead 55-7 and triggered a running clock with more than 15 minutes to play.

Geter completed 13 of 18 passes for 214 yards in a game that featured two pick-six interception returns for touchdowns. Linebacker Jaylin Graham-Taylor gave Salisbury an early 15-0 lead when he returned a Gavin Walker pass 26 yards for a score.

Moments later, East cornerback Jaden Reid picked off a Geter misread near the goal line and raced 99 yards down the right sideline for the Mustangs’ only score. Teammate Tyler Swink added a second-quarter interception.

Salisbury collected 351 yards on the ground, supported by Rule and teammate Jay’lin Johnson’s 60-yard burst for a TD with 4:45 remaining. Kicker Hank Webb converted six of eight extra-point attempts and added a 32-yard field goal early in the final period. The Hornets’ defense forced three turnovers while limiting East to five first downs and 72 total yards.

SHS faces a stiffer test next Friday when it travels to Roxboro to face 3A Person, an unbeaten team that has averaged 55 points per game in three victories.

East gets a much-needed bye week after Walker suffered a collarbone injury in the second quarter and defensive back Josh Payne was transported to Baptist Hospital with a possible concussion.

•••

More on Rule’s big night and the game will be in Tuesday’s print edition.

 

Statistics

East Rowan       7     0     0     0 —  7

Salisbury          21    20    14    10 — 65

SAL — Rule 9 run (Brown pass from Geter), 10:15, 1st

SAL — Graham-Taylor 26 interception return (Webb kick), 9:05 1st

ER — Reid 99 interception return (Honeycutt kick), 5:41 1st

SAL — Rule 9 run (kick failed), 2:45 1st

SAL — Rule 9 run (Webb kick), 11:30 2nd

SAL — Webb 62 pass from Geter (kick failed), 10:11 2nd

SAL — D.Walker 26 pass from Geter (Webb kick), 1:54 2nd

SAL — Rule 5 run (Webb kick), 10:04 3rd

SAL — Rule 51 run (Webb kick), 3:14 3rd

SAL — Webb FG 32, 10:10 4th

SAL — Johnson 60 run (Webb kick), 4:45 4th

Team Stats                         ER                       SAL

First downs                         5                           20

Rushes-yards                  23-11                    29-351

Passes                                8-25-3                 14-21-2

Passing yards                     61                          217

Penalties                             5-45                      4-35

Punts                                  6-28.7                      0

Fumbles-lost                      3-0                       1-0

Individual Stats

Rushing — ER: Blackwelder 3-12; Kennedy 3-9; G.Walker 6-0; Moose 4-(minus 1); Klingler 7-(minus 9). SAL — Rule 21-264; Johnson 3-64; Krider 3-9; D.Walker 1-8; Geter 1-6.

Passing — ER: G.Walker 2-9-1, 2; Klingler 6-16-2, 59. SAL: Geter 13-18-2, 214; Webb 1-3-0, 3.

Receiving — ER: Goodman 5-34; Blackwelder 3-27. SAL: D.Walker 7-78; Rule 4-36; Webb 2-94; Howard 1-9.