By Mike London

mike.london@salisburypost.com

SPENCER — North Rowan beat Thomasville 15-12 in a Central Carolina Conference battle between talented 1A teams on Monday.

North is 14th in the 1A West RPI rankings, while Thomasville is 16th.

North has challenging CCC games ahead against 2As Lexington and Salisbury, but Monday’s home victory over the Bulldogs assures North of being a “1” seed for the 1A state playoffs.

“I feel like maybe we should have won more comfortably than we did, but North Rowan vs. Thomasville has always been like this and always will be like this,” North coach Josh Sophia said. “North Rowan vs. Thomasville is never going to be an easy game. We were thrilled to come out on top.”

Jeremiah Alford led the way for the Cavaliers (4-2, 2-0). He threw for 229 yards and a touchdown and ran for a touchdown.

Alford has 6,535 passing yards for his career. He moved past Samuel Wyrick (East Rowan, 2012-14) for second on the county’s all-time list on Monday. He’s only 22 yards away from breaking the school and county standard of 6,556 set by Mario Sturdivant in 1999.

As an inside linebacker, Alford paced the Cavaliers with 11 tackles, three for loss. He forced a fumble. He had not played defense the previous two games games as the Cavaliers tried to get him healed from a left elbow injury.

“Thomasville broke a few runs, but we did play pretty well on defense,” Sophia said. “Offensively, it was tough sledding on the ground for us, but we hit some big passes.”

Thomasville limited Jo Jo Tarver to 40 yards on 13 carries. Alford carried 14 times for 31 yards.

Alford’s rushing TD, a PAT by Salim Shamman and a lot of defense gave the Cavaliers a 7-0 halftime lead.

After Thomasville fought back to 7-6, Alford’s touchdown pass to Emari Russell gave the Cavaliers a 13-6 lead, and Emanuel Ellis added  a 2-point conversion out of a muddle huddle for a 15-6 lead that put North up by two scores.

Russell had a huge game with six catches for 128 yards. A’son Best, Jaiden Brown and Dyaon Norman-Jackson also had key receptions.

Mike Alford made an interception that set up North’s first TD. Nick Morrow also had a pick.

Ellis recovered a fumble. Tavon Lark blocked a field goal try. KaMahri Feamster had a sack.

North plays East Davidson on Friday and celebrates homecoming.