North Rowan’s Jo Jo Tarver is outnumbered by Hornets.

Jacqui Smith Watson photo.

 

The Trivetts.

Staff report

SPENCER — They’re not household names, but that doesn’t mean they’re not good.

Salisbury’s football team won another game on Friday, its eighth victory in a row after a Week 2 setback against Walkertown.

Salisbury beat rival North Rowan 27-14 after making the short road trip to Eagle Stadium. The defensive-minded triumph for the Hornets (9-1, 6-0)  meant another outright 1A/2A Central Carolina Conference championship, the fourth in a row for the program and the third straight for head coach Clayton Trivett, who accepted the challenging task of following head coach Brian Hinson, who now leads the program.at 4A West Cabarrus.

“Our defense played really well again,” Trivett said. “Bennie Howard (key interception) and Keial Matthews had great games.”

Salisbury’s defense had 15 tackles for loss. Matthews had six. Emmanuel Asare and Samarion Collins had three each. Da’Rrius Jefferies had 2.5 TFLs.

Asare, a senior linebacker, was credited with 11 tackles and caused a fumble.

Salisbury scored first on a Hank Webb to Jay’lin Johnson TD pass and led all the way.

Webb turned in another terrific game. He was 22-for-33 passing for a school-record 299 yards. He had three TD passes, raising his total to 27 for the season, and he ran for the Hornets’ other score.  The only negative was two interceptions. Nick Morrow and Jaiden Brown had the picks for the Cavaliers.

Johnson made two touchdown catches in the first half. He has 11 for the season, a school record for a season.

Macari House had six catches for 102 yards. While he didn’t find the end zone, House has had the biggest receiving season in program history with 55 catches for 811 yards.

Running back Hez Krider had a big role in the passing game for the first time this season and had five catches for 63 yards. He had the touchdown catch that gave the Hornets a 27-7 lead in the third quarter. Krider handled most of the rushing load for the Hornets with 16 carries for 98 yards.

As always, Webb was a huge factor in the kicking game. He had four touchbacks on five kickoffs, went 3-for-3 PATS and crushed four punts for a 57.3-yard average. The Hornets failed on a 2-point conversion after their second touchdown.

North Rowan’s record-setting QB Jeremiah Alford suffered a sprained ankle and did not play in the second half. The playoffs won’t start until Nov. 15 as the mountain teams get a chance to play more games. Alford is expected to be healed in time for the first round. North will be a “1” seed for the 1A playoffs and will be at home in the first round.

Salisbury was up 13-0 when the Cavaliers got a first-half rushing TD from Jo Jo Tarver, who went over 1,000 rushing yards for the season.

Tarver supplied most of North’s offense with 109 rushing yards on 14 carries. North was limited to 98 passing yards.

Mike Alford, who replaced his older brother at quarterback, had a short scoring run to cut North’s deficit to 27-14.

Salim Shamman kicked two PATs for the Cavaliers.

Both Alfords made six tackles, as did Yasir Wactor and KaMahri Feamster. Feamster had a sack.

North (6-4, 4-2) is almost always a contender, but has only one conference title in the last 10 years. That came when the Cavaliers ran the table in the 1A Yadkin Valley Conference in 2019. North’s most recent title in the CCC was in 2014.

North had not posted stats as of Sunday night, but they’ll be added to the story if they’re available on Monday.