By Mike London
mike.london@salisburypost.com

SPENCER — North Rowan senior Khor’on Miller’s only carry in Friday’s 20-14 win against T.W. Andrews was eventful.

At 5-foot-10 and close to 200 pounds, Miller is built like a pickup truck and has no plans to be elusive. His running style is basically lowering his shoulder and looking for someone to demolish.

He dragged Red Raiders for 13 yards, but then he lost a fumble.

Miller would atone for that turnover as the night went on. He had double-figure tackles for the third time in North’s first four games.

“Everyone messes up some, and I fumbled trying to get some extra yards,” Miller said cheerfully. “But when you do mess up, you have to keep a strong mindset. And one of the best things about playing both ways is you’re right back out there on the field with a chance to make up for a mistake.”

Miller’s most important role for the Cavaliers is on defense where he is in his third year as a starter. His combination of experience, muscle, quickness and aggressiveness allows him to make lots more good plays than bad ones. As the “Eagle” linebacker in North’s 4-2-5 alignment, he is the team’s leading tackler most Fridays.

In his own way, Miller gets more big hits than Freddie Freeman. He makes hits that bring roars from the bleachers.

“I do our hit chart, and Khor’on may not have any one play that stands out in a particular game, but he’s in on every play,” North head coach Josh Sophia said. “Teams that play against us, they know his presence, and they’re going to feel his presence.”

Miller lost his freshman season to a broken leg, but came back strong as a sophomore. He played on the outside when he was younger, but for the last two seasons, he’s found a home in the middle of the field.

He’s been around long enough now that he can read what’s coming and where it’s coming just by paying attention to the stances of the guards and running backs.

Miller lines up next to “Stud” linebacker Jeremiah Alford, who also is North’s quarterback.

When Alford gets to take a brief rest, it’s while North is on defense. When Miller gets to rest a bit, it’s when North is on offense.

Miller was an All-Central Carolina linebacker as a junior and got his final high school season started off right in North’s 51-10 win against East Rowan. Miller was credited with 15 tackles in that game.

There are a number of reasons why Miller is such an effective linebacker.

Part of it is his wrestling background. He was the CCC champion last winter at 182 pounds. So he’s not just strong, he understands technique and leverage.

“The lowest man wins in football — same as wrestling,” Miller said. “Wrestling has helped my quickness. It’s helped my stamina. It’s helped me be a physical guy on the football field. I want to strike hard and strike early. I try to let teams know right away it’s going to be a long night.”

The biggest question about the Cavaliers coming into the season was depth. That’s the big question at most 1A schools. Guys get injured playing football, and North has many of its best guys playing on both sides of the ball.

The Cavaliers (3-1) have held up so far. Despite some injuries, they have some good early wins. They were expected to beat East Rowan, but they also have won at Anson and against TW Andrews, two 2A teams that have the athletes to match up with the Cavaliers. When the schedule was announced, Anson and TW Andrews looked like potential losses.

“We’ve got some two-way players, but we’ve still become a second-half team,” Miller said. “We take pride in being in good enough shape to do that.”

Besides being North’s leading tackler, Miller plays on special teams and can be a force in the offensive backfield. While Miller may occasionally line up as the lone running back, more often he is part of a two-back set and is a battering-ram blocker for Morrow and Alford.

Miller relishes the contact of offensive collisions as much as he enjoys the ones that occur when he’s on defense. Morrow and Alford both had rushing TDs in Friday’s tough win.

“Khor’on is a heck of a blocker and does a little bit of everything for us,” Sophia said. “When he gets to run it, he runs it hard. Still, it’s  defense where he makes his biggest impact on a game. He’s right in the middle of everything that goes on out there for us.”

North starts CCC play at home on Friday against a South Davidson team that is off to a 3-1 start.

North never has lost a football game to South Davidson, but Sophia believes this might be the best South Davidson team he’s seen,

“They’ll cause some problems for us,” he said.

But the Cavaliers also will cause problems for the Wildcats. North has played a good non-conference schedule. Forest Hills, Anson and TW Andrews are good preparation for what the Cavaliers will see from CCC bullies Thomasville and Salisbury. At least, that’s the plan.

TW Andrews had a balanced offense, but North was able to hold the Red Raiders to 85 yards on 22 pass plays. TW Andrews standout Correy McManus rushed for 139 yards on 25 carries, but North bent a lot more than it broke, and the Cavaliers were able to win, even on a night when they didn’t post big offensive stats.

“We’ve played good teams early,” Miller said. “Fast teams and physical teams, and it’s helped us get better.”