Staff report

MOUNT ULLA — Down 7-3 early and staring at fourth-and-6 at the Northwest Cabarrus 46, West Rowan head coach Louis Kraft kept his offense on the field.

It made sense. You aren’t going to beat Northwest by playing conservative. You aren’t going to beat a team that can light up the scoreboard like Northwest with punts.

That one play, that one roll of the dice, that one mini-gamble, worked out perfectly for the Falcons. Brant Graham zipped a strike to Evan Kennedy, and Kennedy broke a tackle and headed for the end zone. A homecoming crowd went crazy. This was like old times.

Only it wasn’t like old times. This is a different Northwest Cabarrus (6-0, 3-0).

The Trojans, coached by former Catawba receiver Eric Morman, are undefeated for a reason. They blocked West’s extra point attempt and the visitors owned the rest of the night on both sides of the ball. They smashed the Falcons 49-9 in a South Piedmont Conference showdown that failed to live up to the hype.

This was the ninth time the Trojans have beaten West in their 30 meetings, but this was the first time the Trojans have hammered the Falcons (2-4, 2-1). There’s never been a Northwest victory of a magnitude resembling 49-9.

Except for an occasional Graham-to-Kennedy pass, the Falcons were stymied offensively. Graham completed 11 of his 30 pass attempts for 183 yards. Kennedy had six catches for 142 yards.

West’s Jaylen Neely is an outstanding young back, but there weren’t many holes to run through. His 21 carries produced 28 yards. Once you figured in the sacks and a few TFLs when West tried to get the ball in Kennedy’s hands in the backfield, the Falcons had close to zero net rushing yardage.

Northwest has been beating everyone in sight. In their previous two SPC games the Trojans outscored East Rowan and South Rowan 107-0.

Northwest scored three unanswered TDs to lead 28-9 at halftime, and it got worse, not better, for the Falcons in the second half.

NWC quarterback Alex Walker completed 14 of 23 passes for 271 yards and five touchdowns, as Northwest pulled away.

Porter Branham and Jason Black caught two TDs apiece. Jordan Stockton had the other scoring reception.

Ray Jay Waters needed only 11 carries to pick up 101 yards and scored a touchdown. Waters also hurt the Falcons with long gains on two screen passes.

It won’t get any easier for the Falcons, at least not next week. They go to undefeated Robinson.

Northwest will be at home against Carson, as the Trojans will look to finish a sweep of the four Rowan teams in the SPC.

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It was a good night for Brinley Batts. The West volleyball libero was crowned homecoming queen. … It also was a good night for offensive line coach Tim Pangburn, an All-State lineman at West in the glory days who went on to play and coach at Catawba. He got an affirmative answer to a bended-knee marriage proposal.