From staff reports
The preseason notebook …
Here are five questions to ponder leading into the 2011 football season:
1. Will West Rowan ever lose?
Last year, everyone was sure the Falcons couldn’t go undefeated for a third straight year. Then, the Falcons went undefeated for a third straight year. This year, we’re hearing the same thing. West does have its most difficult schedule. The offensive and defensive lines must step up.
2. Was Carson’s 10-win season in 2010 a one-time thing?
You lose Shaun Warren, Zack Gragg, Cody Clanton and Jacorian Brown and you think there is no way Mark Woody can continue the winning. But he still has plenty of talent and his Cougars have a taste for winning.
And they like it.
3. Who will be the darkhorse team in 2011?
How about South Rowan? The Raiders have arguably the county’s most talented group of juniors, and they got plenty of experience last season. Let’s see how they step up.
4. Who will be the hardest player to replace?
No question about it. West quarterback B.J. Sherrill, now at Catawba. He played in 46 games during his career. He won all 46. Which leads us to …
5. Who are these guys?
Remember these names: Connor Edwards and Zay Lasster at West. Jonathan Lowe and Jordan Phillips at East. Dontae Gilbert and Austin McNeil at Carson. John Hall and Brian Bauk at Salisbury. They have to replace all-stars Sherrill, Gragg, John Knox and Jamey Blalock at quarterback.
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LUCKY NO. 13: When West coach Scott Young reported recently that Emmanuel Gbunblee will be playing at Brevard next season, it was the 13th player from last year’s 16-0 juggernaut going to the next level.
“That’s got to be a record in the county,” Young exclaimed.
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MARCO POLO AWARD: The most well-traveled assistants in the county are Bobby Myers and Greg Philpot.
Myers has coached quarterbacks at North Rowan, North Davidson and Catawba and is now with Jason Rollins at South.
Philpot, who played for South Carolina, has coached at Salisbury and Livingstone and now is back at Salisbury.
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JUNIOR ACHIEVEMENT: The junior class across the county is talented. Some, like Salisbury’s 6-5, 260-pound offensive lineman Parker McKeithan, are looking like a big-time college recruit.
Salisbury coach Joe Pinyan was very impressed with McKeithan as a sophomore in the Hornets’ state title win over Northeastern.
“We were seeing him running downfield rolling people,” Pinyan said. “When you’re 6-foot-5 and can move, you’ve got a future. He realizes it and that causes him to work harder.”
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SURE HANDS: Pinyan watched his backs fumble last year in the wishbone and wondered how to correct that problem. Then, he went to the coaches clinic in July, and it clicked while listening to one of the speakers.
“A right-hander struggles catching the pitch going to his left,” Pinyan said. “A left-hander struggles going to his right catching the football.”
Pinyan will take care of that by putting a right-handed halfback (Dominique Dismuke) with a left-handed halfback (Justin Ruffin).
Problem solved, right?
“We shouldn’t have any fumbles this year,” Pinyan laughed.
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CAN’T-MISS GAMES: Here’s some elite matchups during the season:
Aug. 19: West Rowan at Mooresville. A true test for the Falcons in the opener against the much-improved, Hal Capps-led Blue Devils.
Aug. 26: A.L. Brown at South Rowan: Mike Newsome’s first chance as Wonder coach to visit the land of Billy Ray Barnes. It’s going to be loud.
Sept. 2: West Rowan at Salisbury: What’s better than a matchup of defending state champions?
Sept. 10: A Super Saturday doubleheader at West with North Rowan taking on a team from Florida at 11 a.m. and West playing South Pointe, S.C. at 4.
Oct. 14: East Rowan at South Rowan: There are still people who are convinced this is the biggest rivalry in the county.
Oct. 21: Take your pick. Carson at West or Salisbury at Thomasville.
Oct. 28: West Rowan at West Iredell. The Warriors of Mark Weycker always give West Rowan it’s toughest NPC game.
There’s also that little Bell game as Concord visits A.L. Brown.
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CAN’T-MISS WEEK: And then, there’s Oct. 7, the best Friday night of the season.
West goes to Reidsville, the team which had the nation’s longest winning streak before West took over. County rival Carson is at South. North and Albemarle will collide for perhaps the YVC championship. Central Davidson comes to Salisbury. And in the Battle of the Yadkin River, bitter rivals Davie and West Forsyth meet in Clemmons.
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EAST-WEST: The CCC will be represented in next July’s football game. East Davidson coach Brian Lingerfelt has been named as an assistant for the West squad.
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7-on-7: A.L. Brown coach Mike Newsome isn’t a big fan of 7-on-7 competitions.
He remembers his Butler team losing to a team that probably threw the ball 10 times a game and then beating the same team 44-0 on the way to the state title game.
Another time, Butler was invited to a prestigious 7-on-7 in Oregon and went 1-9. He came home and won another state title.
“They’re not huge to me,” he said.
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K.P. FAN: Newsome is a fan of former West star K.P. Parks. He got an up-close-and-personal look at the phenom when he coached in the Shrine Bowl with West coach Scott Young.
“He’s a bowling ball,” Newsome whewed. “He’s coming at you with some force and some velocity. He reminded me of Emmitt Smith.”
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TWINKLING STARS: It’s going to be extremely difficult for Rowan football to be as good in 2011 as it was in 2010.
An extraordinary class of individuals just graduated.
Salisbury’s Knox was his school’s career leader in total offense and passing yards, while Romar Morris set school rushing records for yards in a season and game as well as receiving yards for his career.
West’s Sherrill broke his school’s career marks for passing yardage in a season and a career and the county mark for career TD passes.
Carson had its record book completely rewritten, with Warren updating all the rushing records, Clanton shattering the receiving marks and Gragg establishing new passing standards.
North’s Javon Hargrave revised the school and county records for career fumble recoveries with 18.
West’s defensive secondary — all four starters graduated — combined for 33 picks as varsity players at West. Domonique Noble’s 14 put him among the all-time leaders. That’s a lot of talent to lose all at once.
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PLAYERS TO WATCH: The county career record book isn’t likely to change at all this season.
The county’s all-time rushing leader among returnees is West senior Dinkin Miller, who has 326 carries for 2,120 yards and 21 TDs.
The county’s second-leading career rusher is Salisbury’s Dismuke with 231 carries for 1,590 yards and 19 TDs.
Dismuke also owns 403 yards in receptions and has caught seven TD passes. He’s scored more career points than any returning player in the county.
The leading returning passer is North Rowan’s T.J. Allen, who has 104 completions to his credit for 1,545 yards and 17 TDs.
North’s Pierre Givens (29 catches, 591 yards, three TDs), Carson’s K.J. Pressley (31 catches, 481 yards, two TDs) and West’s Jarvis Morgan (31 catches, 314 yards, four TDs) have the best career stats among the returning receivers.
Where the county is blessed with returning studs is at linebacker. West’s Logan Stoodley and Salisbury’s Kavari Hillie already have proven their mettle in state-championship games and figure to be All-State and conference player of the year candidates.
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COACHES TO WATCH: This will be the first year in a long time that West’s Young won’t pass anyone on the all-time list.
Young who has steamed past Roger Secreast, Larry Thomason and Bill Ludwig in recent seasons on the county’s all-time wins list, enters the season firmly in second place at a remarkable 135-37, but he still has a ways to go to catch the late S.W. Lancaster, who was 183-50-15 in 29-plus seasons at Price.
Salisbury’s Pinyan cracked the all-time top 10 last year in just his eighth season at the helm of the Hornets, and he figures to move up another notch or two in 2011.
Pinyan (78-30) is currently tied with former South coach Reid Bradshaw (78-48) for eighth place. Next on the list is one of Pinyan’s mentors, Pete Stout (83-20-10), who coached 10 brilliant seasons at Boyden/Salisbury.
Further down the list, South’s Jason Rollins (22-35 in five seasons) and Carson’s Mark Woody (20-39 in five seasons) are poised to move past Randall Ward (24-31 in five seasons at West).
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NORTH NUMBERS: North Rowan enters the season with a 328-245-10 mark in 53 years of football.
North’s favorite opponent has been East Rowan. The Cavaliers are 35-16-1 against the Mustangs. Those schools have squared off every season except 2003.
North also holds career edges against West Rowan (28-21-2) and South Rowan (15-10).
The Cavaliers are unbeaten against North Iredell (9-0) and South Iredell (8-0-1) and they have mashed West Davidson (16-4).
The opponent that’s been the toughest on North?
A.L. Brown. The Cavs are 5-16 against the Wonders, although North is 2-0 against Brown in playoff meetings.
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WEST NUMBERS: Obviously, West Rowan’s numbers are getting better and better against just about everybody.
West is finally above .500 lifetime, entering this season at 282-277-12 in 52 years of football.
West’s most frequent foes have been North Rowan (21-28-2), East Rowan (23-21-1), South Rowan (18-21-1) and Davie (12-26-2).
Lexington (0-8) and A.L. Brown (1-14) have done some serious damage to the Falcons’ overall record.
West has made up a ton of ground in many series during Young’s tenure. His teams are 11-1 vs. East Rowan, 11-2 vs. South Rowan, 10-1 vs. Statesville , 9-0 vs. Salisbury, 9-2 vs. North Rowan and 5-0 vs. Carson.
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EAST NUMBERS: East Rowan is 230-319-8 in 52 seasons of football.
Here’s a good trivia question for you. What school have the Mustangs beaten more than any other opponent?
The answer: West Rowan, although East now trails the all-time series 21-23-1.
East has a losing lifetime mark against every county school except Carson (2-2).
Matchups with Concord have generally meant misery for East. The Mustangs are 3-33-1 vs. the Spiders. For better or worse, that series will be renewed on Aug. 26.
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SOUTH NUMBERS: South is 257-277-8 in 50 years of football. The Raiders were still at the .500 mark in 2004, but they’ve slid a bit.
Not surprisingly, neighbor A.L. Brown is the primary culprit in South being below .500. In 50 meetings, South is 8-40-2.
Thomasville (0-13), Lexington (1-9) and Statesville (3-13) also have done some damage.
South’s favorite foes have been East Rowan (32-14) and Northwest Cabarrus (20-8), and there have been plenty of good times against Sun Valley (8-0), Central Cabarrus (10-1) and North Davidson (12-4).
You may be surprised to learn that South owns the edge on a couple of perennial powerhouses — Albemarle (11-4-1) and Concord (10-9-1).
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SALISBURY NUMBERS: Since 1930, Salisbury (Boyden was renamed Salisbury prior to the 1971 season) is a solid 465-356-37.
Salisbury has played Lexington the most (32-37-4), and it’s been a great rivalry.
Salisbury’s rivalries with North Rowan (25-19-2), A.L. Brown (15-15-3), Thomasville (14-15-1) and West Rowan (14-17) also have been competitive.
Salisbury has battered East Rowan consistently (27-10), and in the old days, Boyden owned Gastonia (23-5-3).
During Pinyan’s tenure, the Hornets have fared well against CCC foes Lexington (8-0), Central Davidson (7-1) and East Davidson (6-2).
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CARSON NUMBERS: Carson broke through for its first wins against South Rowan, Salisbury, West Iredell, Hickory and Hickory Ridge last season.
Statesville and West Rowan are the two big obstacles left for the Cougars to conquer.
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A.L. BROWN NUMBERS: The Wonders’ record against county rivals Central Cabarrus (22-0) and Northwest Cabarrus (35-3-1) is downright scary, although it’s always a tossup against Concord (37-39-4).
Brown also has owned former SPC rival Sun Valley (18-1) and frequent foe Statesville (37-12-2).
While Salisbury is dead- even lifetime against the Wonders — the most recent meeting was in 1992 — the rest of Rowan County is a combined 18-86-2.
Ouch.
Ronnie Gallagher and Mike London contribute to the notebook.