High school football: Big night for Morrow as Cavs crush Elkin
Published 1:27 am Sunday, November 5, 2023
Staff report
SPENCER — North Rowan’s football team scored 42 points in the first 15 minutes on Friday and easily blew out Elkin 63-19.
With the fourth-seeded Cavaliers leading 49-0 at halftime, the second half of the first-round 1A playoff game went by swiftly with a running clock.
North Rowan has won its first-round playoff game in each of the last five seasons.
North (9-2) amassed 340 rushing yards against the 29th-seeded Buckin’ Elks (3-8), with Jaemias Morrow getting the lion’s share.
Morrow’s four touchdown romps of 70, 45, 38 and 14 yards gave him the career record at North for most touchdowns scored (73). The explosive and still uncommitted senior got North’s final TD with 7:47 left to play.
Morrow didn’t feel well before the game and wasn’t expecting a good night, but it turned out to be a memorable one for him. He had 244 yards on only 13 carries, 18.7 per carry.
Jeremiah Alford threw two touchdown passes for the Cavaliers.
North scored less than two minutes into the game on Alford’s 27-yard pass to Amir Alexander.
Morrow broke his 70-yard run for a 13-0 lead with 3:03 left in the first quarter.
Alford’s 34-yard TD pass to Ason Best, plus a 2-point conversion, made it 21-0 two minutes later.
When Elkin fumbled the ensuing kickoff, Tsion Kelly made the recovery for North at the Elkin 36. The Cavaliers scored easily, with Khor’on Miller plunging into the end zone for a 28-0 lead.
The snowball kept rolling. Morrow’s 45-yard run made it 35-0, Donald Horton’s interception led to a rushing TD by Jerricho Charleston for a 42-0 lead with 9:25 left in the second quarter.
North put it in the end zone one more time before halftime, with Morrow going 38 yards for a 49-0 lead.
Elkin kicked a field goal to get on the board, but Best returned the kickoff for a North touchdown and a 56-3 lead.
Elkin got its passing game going to score two touchdowns and added a pair of 2-point conversions to get back to 56-19.
Then Morrow got his fourth TD for the final score of the night.
Next for the Cavaliers is a home game against Charlotte-based Corvian Community School. The Cardinals (6-5) are seeded 20th in the 1A West bracket, but they had a good win on Friday. They won on the road in Valdese against a Draughn team that doesn’t lose at home very often.