By Mike London
mike.london@salisburypost.com

SPENCER — The career numbers are spiraling upward for North Rowan junior quarterback Jeremiah Alford, but the only numbers he’s worried about are 8 and 1.

That’s eight wins and one loss. That’s North’s record as the Cavaliers head into one of the biggest regular-season games the Cavaliers have experienced in years on Friday at Salisbury (9-0).

“I’ve never been that guy who worried about stats or even kept up with the stats,” the 5-foot-10, 210-pound Alford said with a shrug. “Sometimes I hear about my stats because people read something about my stats and tell me about it, but that’s about it. Winning games is all I’m worried about.”

That’s a great attitude, a mature perspective on life for a teenager, but fans do like their stats.

Times change. There’s no doubt stats come more readily now than they did back in the day. There were two more 200-yard rushing games in the county last Friday, and 200-yard games, at least before KP Parks, used to be mind-blowing and headline-making.

Some outstanding players played four varsity seasons, some played three and others played only two. That’s a huge factor as far as piling up lifetime numbers.

Alford is going to play four varsity seasons as the starting QB.

That works in his favor, but Alford’s stats still speak volumes. They say only positive things about him. He is a great player in this era.

The junior has 4,638 passing yards and 2,190 rushing yards. That’s 6,828 yards of total offense, which is already in the top 10 in county history. North’s TO school record — Mario Sturdivant’s 7,473 in the late 1990s — isn’t that far away for Alford.

Alford’s 2,190 rushing yards are highly unusual for a quarterback  and are the most ever by a Cavalier QB.

While yards are wonderful, touchdowns matter more.

It appears that Alford has accounted for more touchdowns than anyone in program history. He has 54 passing touchdowns and 31 rushing touchdowns, so he’s been responsible for 85. Assuming he can stay healthy, he’s going to go well past 100 in 2024.

Sturdivant accounted for 84 touchdowns in a brilliant three-year career — 65 passing and 19 rushing.

Alfonzo Miller, who caught touchdown passes from Sturdivant and Graham Hosch before he became North’s quarterback, had a legendary four-year varsity career that closed in 2001. Miller accounted for 78 diversified touchdowns, with 23 receiving, 24 rushing, 30 passing — and one kickoff return. Those were days when North was playing conference games against schools like High Point Central and Ledford.

Mitch Ellis would get votes as North’s all-time QB. He fired 50 touchdown passes in his two seasons in the early 1990s as the varsity QB and added some rushing TDs, but as far as touchdown responsibility, his career totals would rank behind Miller and Sturdivant.

Carvie Kepley, a four-year varsity starter who directed tough North teams during 3A days, threw 40 touchdown passes from 1989-92.

Alford is one of the best North has ever had when it comes to putting points on the board.

Then you have to throw into the mix that he is one of the core players for North’s defense. He’s one of the inside linebackers in North’s 4-2-5.

“When I came back to North this year I was hesitant about using our starting quarterback on defense, especially at inside linebacker,” North head coach Josh Sophia said. “But Jeremiah is so physical that it wasn’t hard to see we needed him on the field on both sides of the ball. He’s in good shape, and he can do it.  I also think playing linebacker actually helps him as a quarterback. He’s got to be thinking all the time as the quarterback, but when he’s on defense he can just go play and hit people. Linebacker is good stress relief for him.”

Alford agreed with that assessment.

“Playing both ways is something I’ve always done, growing up in AAU ball and middle school,” Alford said. “Mentally and physically, I’ve always been prepared to play quarterback in high school and to also to play on defense. I’ve always felt like I could help our team on defense. If I mess up and have a bad play on offense, it’s nice to be able to make up for it on defense.”

Alford has two interceptions and is second on the team in tackles behind tackling machine Khor’on Miller.

There were some worries about who Alford would fling the ball to this season after Amari McArthur, who is now at Lenoir-Rhyne, graduated. But Alford throws to A’son Best, Tsion Kelly and especially to big-play receiver Amir Alexander, who is averaging better than 30 yards per catch and has eight touchdowns.

North and Lexington were locked in a scoreless tie at halftime last week, but Alford’s 66-yard TD to Alexander helped get the Cavaliers untracked.

“We had two guys running slants, and Amari came open,” Alford said. “It wasn’t a hard throw. Then they were stacking the box and we faked a dive and got a touchdown on a pitch play to Jaemias Morrow.”

Alford threw for 298 yards this season against East Davidson, but his numbers are normally more consistent than spectacular. While the Cavaliers have talented receivers and will take their shots down the field, they are still a run-first team, with Morrow (69 career touchdowns), Alford and Miller carrying the ball.

“You’ve got to be able to run the ball if you want to compete for championships,” Sophia said. “We do run the ball quite a bit, but Jeremiah still has good numbers. He’s got passing numbers that are at the top of our conference.”

North’s jayvee quarterback and varsity backup QB is Mike Alford, Jeremiah’s younger brother. Mike probably will be on the field for the varsity Cavaliers somewhere next year, as his brother finishes an amazing career.

“Seeing Mike playing as a freshman, it’s been a lot like being able to see myself play at that age,” Jeremiah said.

When Jeremiah was a freshman, North made the third round of the 1A playoffs, and he threw five TD passes in a memorable shootout loss to Robbinsville.

But North was blown out by powerful Salisbury teams his freshman and sophomore years.

Will this year be any different?

A lot of people believe it will be a lot closer. Salisbury is still very stout, but the Cavaliers toughened up some with a challenging early schedule and are better than they’ve been in a while. They won at Thomasville. That was a statement game.

“The Salisbury game means a lot,” Alford said. “My freshman year, it was a pretty uneven game. Last year, I felt like we could compete with Salisbury, but we had too many mental mistakes. This time we’ve got the best team we’ve had since I’ve been here. New coaches have made a difference. We’ve got more vocal coaches on the staff this year. I think some of our basketball guys (Alexander, George Maxwell, Jerricho Charleston) saw it was going to be different, they came out, and they’ve made us a lot stronger team.”

Whether North can hang with the high-powered Hornets is something know one will really know until Friday night, but Sophia and Alford are excited about the challenge.

It’s good for the Cavaliers to be playing in a huge county game. Alford will be in the middle of it on offense and defense.

“If he needs a rest, we’ll try to get him a blow on defense,” Sophia said. “But when it’s time to go, we’re going to want No. 3 on the field.”