Staff report

CONCORD — West Rowan’s football team has experienced two blowout losses and two gut-wrenching losses, but the Falcons still plan to make an impact in the postseason.

Evan Kennedy scored three touchdowns, as West took a step toward the 3A state playoffs with an emphatic 47-14 South Piedmont Conference win at Central Cabarrus on Friday. The South Piedmont Conference only gets two guaranteed playoff berths, but the Falcons (4-4, 3-2) are 25th in the 3A West RPI rankings. West will make the playoffs as an at-large team as long as it takes care of Concord and East Rowan in its final two regular-season games.

Central Cabarrus (1-7, 1-4) is 54th out of 58 3A West teams in the rankings.

Kennedy had two rushing TDs and took a screen pass from Brant Graham to the house for this third score. Jaylen Neely had two rushing TDs. Graham also had a 60-yard TD pass to Brennon Stevenson, who made the catch at midfield and out-ran defenders the last 50 yards. Stevenson had a touchdown called back in the South Rowan game, so this was his first TD that stayed in the record books.

Graham’s 11 completions produced 235 yards. Neely had 123 yards on 18 carries. Kennedy had four catches for 98 yards and rushed seven times for 81.

Kendrick Cornelius and Lucas Watts made interceptions for the Falcons. Cornelius had a pick-six called back by a flag for clipping on his return. Outside linebacker Camden Moten had another big game on defense. Coach Louis Kraft said Moten has  been “playing out of his mind.”

Neely, Max Brown and Ja’mih Tucker had 2-point conversions.

West opened the game with a no-huddle, uptempo drive that Central couldn’t stop. Graham hit a key pass to Stevenson, and Kennedy got the TD from the 3-yard line that began a West scoring parade.

Central came right back to take a 7-6 lead on a 50-yard scoring run up the middle.

The Falcons answered with another scoring drive. Neely got the TD with 4:02 left in the first quarter, and West tacked on a 2-point conversion.

West forced a punt and got a quick score when Kennedy made a nice cut, broke tackles and was off to the races for 63 yards. Neely ran for two points to make it 22-7 at the end of the first quarter.

Kennedy floated back inside after lining up as a wideout and Graham flipped him the ball on a middle screen that Kennedy’s elusiveness turned into a 24-yard TD and a 29-7 edge early in the second quarter.

Central struck for a touchdown through the air to make it 29-14 six minutes before halftime.

Central sacked Graham at the Central 25 on West’s final possession of the first half, but that didn’t push the Falcons out of field goal range. Carter Durant made a 42-yarder, one of the longer field goals in West history, for a 32-14 halftime lead.

West put the game on ice in the third quarter by stopping Central on a fourth-and-short play at the West Rowan 5. Then the Falcons scored on drive that had Neely doing most of the damage. He trucked several tacklers on a long run to the Central 10 and took the ball to the end zone on the next play.That made it 39-14 with 5:18 left in the third quarter.

West tackled on one more TD, plus a 2-point conversion, when Graham and Stevenson connected with about eight minutes left to play.