LANDIS — Before the season began, South Rowan coach Jason Rollins looked at his schedule and thought his Raiders could be 2-1 at this point.
South is 0-3 instead.
The Central Cabarrus opener was supposed to be a sure win. It wasn’t. But if you look at the standings, the much-improved Vikings are undefeated.
Game Two was against A.L. Brown. Undefeated.
Game Three was against Northwest Cabarrus. Undefeated.
It’s not like these foes are chopped liver.
Tonight, the red and black take on Salisbury in Ludwig Stadium. Everyone but Rollins and his team is expecting South to be 0-4.
After losing to Northwest on a Saturday morning, Rollins was already thinking about the defending 2AA state champ Salisbury Hornets.
“Our kids are ready every week,” he said. “We move on and focus on winning this ballgame. We can’t look at the past.”
Sometimes when you lose, that’s hard to do.
“We have to win a mental ballgame, too,” Rollins said. “We have to mentally face the challenges and overcome adversity.”
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We need to think about this matchup between South and Salisbury. It could be a conference game at the next realignment. South’s numbers are closing in on 2A. Instead of East Rowan and West Rowan, South could be playing East Davidson and West Davidson.
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Another team looking for a win is East Rowan, who could get it at Hickory Ridge. The Mustangs didn’t score until the third game of the season.
Also tonight, Carson hosts J.M. Robinson, A.L. Brown goes to Porter Ridge and Davie is home to Lexington.
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On the air tonight ….
• Lance, Glenn and the boys at WSAT 1280 will be calling the Salisbury-South game. The velvet-voiced Johnny Cloer will do a pregame show at 6.
• Carl Ford, the Commissioner of high school football, and The Coach, Bob Parker, will also call South-Salisbury on WRNA 1140 AM.
It’s the second straight week Salisbury will have two radio stations at its game. The Hornets are getting spoiled.
• Hall of Famer Howard Platt takes Friday off and will call West Rowan’s 4 p.m. national showdown against South Pointe., S.C. on Saturday. North Rowan plays University Christian at West at 11 a.m.
Go to a game tonight — and tomorrow, folks. And be nice.
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Contact Ronnie Gallagher at 704-797-4287 or rgallagher@salisburypost.com.