Staff report

MORGANTON — West Rowan’s first play from scrimmage was a 50-yard completion from Brant Graham to Evan Kennedy, and the Falcons were on their way to a monstrous offensive night.

West won 35-21 against Freedom in Friday’s first round of the 3A state playoffs. It was an upset as far as the seeds, with West a 24 seed and Freedom seeded ninth, but the game was considered a tossup. The teams had identical records coming in, and history certainly favored the Falcons. West (7-4) beat Freedom for the fourth straight time in a playoff matchup, having also beaten the Patriots in 2009, 2016 and 2019.

“We did like our chances,” West head coach Louis Kraft said. “We really didn’t play our best ball and Kennedy went down right before the half, but we were able to do enough.”

The game was played at Patton High. Freedom’s field and field house suffered some damage during Hurricane Helene.

Freedom (6-5) hasn’t won a playoff game since 2015.

Graham’s 11 completions produced a whopping 293 yards, almost 27 yards per completion. Kennedy had six catches for 149 yards and two TDs in a half. Kraft said he expects Kennedy to be able to play next Friday. Graham also hit explosive plays of more than 60 yards to Brennon Stevenson and Ja’mih Tucker.

Kennedy had a rushing TD, but Jaylen Neely carried the load on the ground with 29 carries for 188 yards and he scored both of West’s TDs in the second half.

Graham hit Kennedy for a 9-yard TD on a slant for a 7-0 lead just 49 seconds into the game. Then Kennedy broke a 39-yard run for a 14-0 lead with 3:35 left in the first quarter. West had the ideal start that it needed on the road, but Freedom still was able to fight back.

Freedom got QB Kaden Davis back in action after he had missed recent games with injury. He provided a lot of Freedom’s offense with three TD passes, two of them to Kobe Johnson. Freedom also got 125 rushing yards on 17 carries fom Jaiden Belin. It was an offensive-minded night.

Davis’ first TD pass put Freedom on the board with 43 seconds left in the first half, but when Freedom squibbed the kickoff, West recovered and had a short field. There still was sufficient time for Graham to throw a 38-yard scoring pass to Kennedy, and the Falcons led 21-7 at the break.

Freedom scored two TDs about three minutes apart in the third quarter to climb back to 21-all and had the momentum, but West answered with a 3-yard scoring run by Neely to regain the lead.

West held that 28-21 edge most of the fourth quarter, but the Falcons put together a drive and finished it with two minutes left. Neely got the clinching TD from the 1-yard line.

“That drive was about six minutes and that salted the game away,” Kraft said.

Next for West Rowan is a trip to eighth-seeded West Charlotte. The Lions (8-2) destroyed Hunter Huss 47-0 in the first round.

It’s an odd 3A matchup, as the latest ADM figures released by the NCHSAA have West Rowan with 956 students, while West Charlotte has 2,332. West Charlotte definitely will be an 8A team next fall when the NCHSAA moves to eight classifications, while West Rowan might be the smallest 5A school. The Falcons are still hoping they’ll land in 4A.