By Mike London
mike.london@salisburypost.com

ROBBINSVILLE — Hurricane Cuttler made landfall shortly after 7:30 p.m. on Friday night.

Robbinsville running back Cuttler Adams is an act the North Rowan Cavaliers already had seen one time too many. He rolled for 377 yards against them in 2021 when Robbinsville pulled out a 50-47 third-round playoff victory deep in the mountain at Big Oaks Stadium.

This time, in a fourth-round matchup, a 1A regional semifinal, it wasn’t close.

Adams carried 27 times for 282 yards and four touchdowns, as top-seeded Robbinsville pounded the Cavaliers 44-14.

Jake Calhoun scored two TDs for the Black Knights. QB Donovan Carpenter threw a touchdown pass and picked off two North passes.

Robbinsville amassed 464 rushing yards, while stuffing North for minus rushing yards. That’s how one-sided it was at the line of scrimmage.

“They were just too physical for us,” North head coach Josh Sophia said. “We knew coming in that it would be a tall task. Their back is good. Their offensive line is outstanding. Their defense was very well-prepared for us. We’re another year in the weight room away from being able to be able to compete with a team like that.”

Fourth-seeded North (11-3) had some momentum at the start of the game and again at the start of the second half, but Robbinsville (13-1) ruthlessly extinguished those flickers of hope.

The early momentum came from Jaemias Morrow’s return of the opening kickoff. The leading rusher and touchdown-scorer in North history, he nearly broke it all the way and was finally corralled at the Robbinsville 40. The Cavs had a short field, but three plays later, the Cavaliers were looking at fourth-and-12. Sophia called on Daniel Montes Medrano to punt.

“We ran three plays and they just smashed us,” Sophia said. “That hurt us. That took a lot out of us right away.”

Robbinsville led 6-0 at the end of the first quarter, and the second quarter was total disaster for North. It was a snowball — 12-0, then 18-0, then 24-0.

In the last four minutes of the half, Robbinsville scored twice. Down 18-0, North desperately needed to answer. Instead, the Cavaliers coughed up a fumble at the North 36, and Robbinsville punched in its fourth TD with 38 seconds left in the half.

“We couldn’t get anything going offensively, and on defense, we couldn’t get off the field,” Sophia said. “We had them third-and-long a numbers of times, but we couldn’t get the stop.”

At the half, only the most optimistic North fans retained any belief in a comeback, but the Cavaliers did show signs of a pulse early in the third quarter.

North executed on an onside kick to begin the second half, and made it pay off with a touchdown. Jeremiah Alford hit Amir Alexander on a slant for a 19-yard score.

Down 24-6, the Cavaliers were optimistically thinking about getting even with three 8s, but Robbinsville stopped a 2-point conversion attempt.

Robbinsville wasn’t fazed by North’s first serious resistance and scored two quick TDs to go ahead 36-6.

With 7:43 left in the third quarter, Alford threw a touchdown pass to Morrow. It was a check-down that Morrow turned into a touchdown. Alford added the game’s first successful 2-point conversion to make it 36-14, but North couldn’t sustain a comeback.

Robbinsville got its seventh and final touchdown in the opening minute of the fourth quarter, and Adams tacked on the first successful 2-point conversion for the Black Knights.

Adams, whose night included touchdown sprints of 49 and 85 yards, broke the career rushing record for mountain schools. He has 6,737 rushing yards. On Friday, he eclipsed the career mark set by Brevard legend Manny Deshauteurs, who put up 6,632 rushing yards in the late 1990s.

Ironically, North Rowan also encountered Deshauteurs in the playoffs.

Deshauteurs scored four TDs, one on a pick-six, and rushed 32 times for 231 yards when Brevard beat North Rowan 61-33 in the first round of the 2A state playoffs in 1999. That’s the game in which North’s Alfonzo Miller had three long touchdown catches and a 94-yard kickoff return touchdown. Coached by Roger Secreast, North put the ball in the air 40 times that night. North’s Mario Sturdivant and Graham Hosch threw for 425 yards, but it still wasn’t enough.

This North Rowan season didn’t end with huge stats and legendary feats, but it still was quite a season that included the three playoffs wins and a major victory at Thomasville.

“We all hate it’s over, but I told our kids I didn’t want to see any sad faces,” Sophia said. “They had a great season, and they should celebrate that.”

Robbinsville, a 14-time state champion, moves on to face second-seeded and unbeaten Mount Airy in the regional final. Mount Airy (14-0) had a battle with third-seeded Eastern Randolph on Friday before winning 42-21. Mount Airy, the defending champ, is coached by former Salisbury assistant JK Adkins.