By Mike London

mike.london@salisburypost.com

SALISBURY — Bryce Dalton’s name is a combination of two Carolina Panthers quarterbacks, but the Salisbury Hornets wouldn’t trade him for both of them right now.

Not even if you threw in Sir Purr, a Coke and a barbecue sandwich.

Dalton is playing high school football for the first time as a senior, but he’s not looking much like a rookie. Heading into Friday’s Senior Night game with Lexington, the safety had scored touchdowns on a fumble recovery, a punt return and an interception.

“Sometimes it’s not a bad thing that a guy hasn’t played a lot of football,” Salisbury head coach Clayton Trivett said. “Everything is new to him, so he does exactly what the coaches tell him to do. He doesn’t have any bad habits to unlearn.”

The 5-foot-9 Dalton is the younger brother of Haley Dalton, who was a tall shot-blocker for championship Salisbury basketball teams.

“She got the height,” Dalton said with a smile, “but I got the speed.”

While he’s new to Ludwig Stadium, Dalton is a well-known athlete at Salisbury. He’s been an important part of basketball conference championships. He’s a point guard, a distributor and press-breaker, but he’s talented enough that he once scored 26 points in a game against North Rowan.

“Good kid, really talented kid,” said Salisbury DBs coach Kentavian “Tay” Little, who played college ball at Carson-Newman. “The first day of summer workouts, Bryce was out there, and it didn’t take long to see he could make a difference for us. He’s got really good speed and quickness. He’s got the stuff you can’t teach. Sure, he had things to learn, but his football knowledge has grown every week.”

Trivett had seen his speed in the gym and had been after Dalton to play football for a few years.

There’s an injury risk to football, and Salisbury’s basketball program certainly doesn’t need anything to happen to Dalton, but Dalton decided that the rewards, the fun and the potential memories from football outweighed the risks.

“I kept thinking that senior year was my last chance to play football, so why not?” Dalton said. “It’s been a good decision. I’ve been able to help the team.”

Dalton has shown flashes of special athletic ability, especially in the East Davidson game. On that night, he had a pick-six, plus a 55-yard punt return for a touchdown.

East Davidson got off a decent punt from around its 25-yard line, but Dalton came up to catch the ball on the Salisbury 45, with his momentum moving forward. He got a block, ran through a would-be tackler and then ran by the rest. East Davidson’t didn’t have anyone who was going to catch him.

“Good blocks and then I found the sideline on the punt return,” Dalton said. “It was pretty easy from there. On the pick-six, I read a slant and made a good break on the ball.”

As a deep defender in the middle of the field, Dalton’s first duty is pass coverage, but he has shown a willingness to help out against the run despite a lean, wiry frame that was made for basketball.

Walkertown probably was the best team Salisbury has played to this point, and Dalton made six tackles, two for loss. That told the coaching staff a lot.

“He’s coachable,” Little said. “I told him from that first day to listen and learn, and he had a chance to be a really good football player. He’s not a typical first-year guy because he’s been in so many big basketball games. He’s an athlete and he’s comfortable playing with pressure. He’s also getting more vocal on the field now. He’s used to being a leader.”