Staff report

CONCORD — Northwest Cabarrus beat South Rowan 45-0 in a South Piedmont Conference football opener for both teams on Friday.

Hudson Irwin threw for 185 yards and three touchdowns for the Trojans. Jarlon Drye carried 20 times for 173 yards and three touchdowns.

Versatile Henry Forrest did what he normally does. He punted, kicked off, boomed a 48-yard field goal, nailed six straight PATs, made five catches for 76 yards and piled up 10 tackles, including a sack.

Northwest’s defense came up with two turnovers, one interception and one fumble recovery on its way to a shutout.

South had 77 passing yards. With four sacks, Raiders’ net rushing yardage was negligible.

You can’t dominate more thoroughly than they Trojans (3-1, 1-0) did. They settled the outcome in the first four minutes, stuffing South’s first three offensive possessions, and then scoring immediately after the Raiders (1-3, 0-1) were forced to punt.

South got the ball to begin the game with poor field position, starting at its 15-yard line. Three plays lost a yard and the Trojans started their first possession at the South 46.

It took one snap for the home team to score. Drye took a handoff, started up the middle, made one cut to daylight, ran through two diving tacklers in the secondary and went all the way for a 7-0 lead.

South’s second possession included a sack on third-and-long. Northwest returned South’s punt to the red zone and scored easily for a 14-0 lead.

Northwest started its third possession on the Trojan 35, but didn’t stay on that side of the field long. Irwin threw deep on first down and Jaiden Hannah reeled it in for a 65-yard touchdown and a 21-0 lead. The clock was ticking under 8 minutes left in the first quarter as Hannah was sprinting to the end zone.

South didn’t quit. If the Raiders had quit, it might have been 90-0.

It was 35-0 at the half. Northwest didn’t achieve the running clock (that comes with 42-point lead in the second half) until the fourth quarter.

“We had some guys play well on defense,” South head coach Chris Walsh said.

Walsh praised defensive end Ashton Frampton and linebackers Owen Smith and James Ritchie. Cayden Wood made plays as a gunner on the punt team.

The toughest thing for the Raiders to swallow in a game they had close to zero chance in was the injuries. They lost six starters during the course of the game. The severity of those injuries wasn’t immediately known, but the linebacking corps and offensive line took the brunt of it.

“Some young guys had to come in and play against a really tough team,” Walsh said. “I was proud of they way they competed.”

Sooth gets West Rowan next. East Rowan is next on the schedule for Northwest.