SPENCER — The music has changed for North Rowan’s ascending football team — and so has the dance.

As the county’s last team standing, the Cavs have brushed aside three post-season adversaries and find themselves embedded in Round 4 of the 1A state playoffs. They’re one of 32 teams statewide that will practice on Thanksgiving morning, a rare privilege offered to the few fortunate survivors of this knockout tournament.

“You’ve got to make a pretty deep run to practice on Thanksgiving,” chirped Josh Sophia, the amiable first-year coach who has guided North (11-2) halfway to a state championship and into Friday’s fourth-round prizefight at top-seeded Robbinsville. “We’re extremely excited. We’ll practice Wednesday and Thursday morning and try to make this week a big deal for the kids. It already feels special.”

Indeed, these are giddy times for Sophia and the fourth-seeded Cavs. It’s been 31 years since opportunity knocked this hard on their door. They’ve never reached the fifth round. But what seemed like a far-fetched pipe dream during the record-setting heat of August is a well-deserved, late-November reality.

“I love this team,” decorated senior Khor’on Miller announced last Friday, shortly after North buffalo-stampeded past visiting Mountain Heritage in a 48-39 third-round win. “We’ve come through so much adversity and somehow, everyone is still on board. We’re still here and still having fun. This is why I love football so much.”

It’s why Miller and his mates keep showing up for the party on Whitehead Avenue. A disruptive hybrid defender, he’s spent time roaming sideline-to-sideline as a linebacker, cornerback and safety for the Cavs and their somewhat raggedy defense. He made at least a dozen tackles against MH, including a first-period stop that gave him the school record for tackles in a season.

“Every week, he’s great,” Sophia gushed afterward. “He’s kind of a quiet player that you don’t really notice until you do the stat sheet. Then you realize he made another 12 or 15 tackles. He makes practically every tackle on the kicking game. It’s ridiculous.”

So while North’s run defense was Charmin-soft — the Cougars, sparked by do-it-all quarterback Brandon Quinn, rushed for 308 yards and reached the end zone six times — its offense had a response for every Mountain Heritage proposal. Led by QB Jeremiah Alford, running back Jaemias Morrow and a brawny offensive line that threw its weight around, the Cavs grabbed hold of this one early, squeezed hard and held on. Alford rushed for 99 yards and scored North’s first three touchdowns, the last when he whirled 14 yards into the end zone and gave the Cavs a 21-14 second-quarter lead they never relinquished. It was 28-26 at halftime and 41-39 early in the final period.

“There have been certain games where we executed the game plan perfectly,” said Alford, the junior maestro who passed for 137 yards and steered North to seven touchdowns. “This was one of them. Everyone seemed to play hard.”

That’s what it took. That and the rambunctious Morrow having himself another field day. The senior was a runaway beer truck, leaving MH defenders gasping on his exhaust fumes before finishing with 174 yards and three TDs. Most significant was his 64-yard burst up the middle for a third-quarter TD.

“Jaemias has been huge for us this playoff run,” Sophia said. “He’s had over 700 yards in three games. He’s almost had a total ’nother season in the playoffs. He’s been great.”

Morrow, the proud owner of nine 100-yard rushing games, has been the diesel that propels the upstart Cavs. He’s zigged and zagged his way for nearly 1,900 yards and 21 touchdowns this season. But the heady Alford, who doubles as a dirt-eating linebacker, is the man with the keys. He spent the night speed-reading the MH defense, feathering short sideline and over-the-middle passes and converting critical downfield strikes to Tsion Kelly, the junior wideout/cornerback who made four contested receptions worth 115 yards.

None of it would have mattered if the Houdini-like Quinn (3 rushing TDs, 2 passing) hadn’t run out of time. The 6-foot-2 junior put the Cougars in scoring position twice in the final two minutes, only to come up empty. First a missed field goal with 1:45 left ended a drive at the North 24-yard line. Then, following a blocked punt, Quinn’s final pass of the season was intercepted by North’s Jaiden Brown near the goal line with just 1:10 hanging on the clock.

“It was a miscommunicated play call,” Quinn said after rushing for 200 yards and throwing for 66. “My split thought the pocket had collapsed on me. He thought I was going to take off running and discarded the route.”

So now the Cavs turn their attention to Robbinsville and an intriguing shot at school history. The favored Black Knights are 12-1 with eight straight victories. They boast a defense that’s allowed 13.7 points-per-game, has forced 25 turnovers and recorded 21 sacks. Their offense centers around 190-pound senior Cuttler Adams, a hard-nosed running back with 95 career touchdowns.

“They’re a 21-personnel team with a tight end,” Sophia noted. “They’re going to run I-formation a lot. They’re going to run it right at us with a really good running back. Not as much misdirection as we saw this week, but a similar team. We’ll have to play better defense — you know, put some beef in there.”

Rest assured, the Cavs will arrive with swords held high. Will they play well enough to return home as giant killers? Only Friday knows. Stay tuned.