Time: 7:30 p.m.
Records: Rocky River 1-1; A.L. Brown 2-0
Series: First meeting
Last week: Rocky River lost to Charlotte Harding 12-7; Brown ran wild ina 63-12 romp at South Rowan
Next week: Rocky River is at home against Waxhaw Cuthbertson; A.L. Brown travels to Indian Trail to play Porter Ridge
Game notes: Rocky River opened its doors in 2010 and went 0-10 as first-year schools are supposed to do. One of those losses was by 55-0 to a neighboring Butler squad coached by Mike Newsome, now the head coach at A.L. Brown. Several of Rocky River’s players actually played for Newsome at Butler before the new school opened.
The 4A Ravens from Mint Hill, however, have already tasted victory this year. Coach Jason Fowler’s club beat West Meck 15-3 in their 2011 opener, and they came close in a tight loss to Harding’s Rams last week.
No matter what happens it will be good experience for the young Ravens to play in a venue like Kannapolis’ Memorial Stadium.
A.L. Brown’s numbers are off the charts after two games. The Wonders are averaging 53 points and 377.5 rushing yards per contest.
A lot of that is attributable to the spectacular talents of Damien Washington, who accounted for four long touchdowns in the first quarter against South Rowan.
Brown would like to get its passing game going, but the score snowballed so quickly against South last week that QB Brandon Eppinger only got to throw three times.
Defensively, Brown hasn’t been quite as spectacular, but it’s been very solid. Defensive end Darius Rice returned a pick for a score last week.
Brown is allowing 18 points per game, but the Wonders have pitched shutouts in both first halves so far.