By Mike London
Salisbury Post
GRANITE QUARRY — East Rowan’s football team rallied to beat Wheatmore 20-13 on opening night, the first victory for the Mustangs since Oct. 21, 2022, when they won 37-20 at South Rowan.
“Mustangs rip South for first win” read the Post headline. Blake Hill rushed for 206 yards that night. That probably was half of the baseball slugger’s career rushing total. Post reporter David Shaw called Hill “a main of the soil” because he plowed Raiders for a couple of hours.
Before the Wheatmore victory, East had not started a season 1-0 since 2019 when the Mustangs won at North Stanly under previous coach John Fitz, so euphoria swept like a tidal wave over the newly named W.A. Cline Stadium in Granite Quarry.
“I saw the fans were going to storm the field,” East head coach Brian Flynn said. “I could see it might get crazy. I thought for a minute they were going after the goal posts, but I was glad they left them standing.”
Before he came to East, Flynn, a former Catawba College receiver, coached North Davidson in a state championship game and in multiple regional championship games. He’s won at Salisbury when Salisbury was really good. He’s been in the big time. But he put East’s emotional win over Wheatmore right up there as one as his finest coaching moments.
“Absolutely, it’s right up near the top among my favorite wins,” Flynn said. “I say that because of what I’ve been through personally during the past year and I say that because of the struggles the East Rowan program has gone through. It wasn’t a pretty win, by any means. We had touchdowns called back by penalties. We had turnovers. We had mistakes. But I didn’t care about any of that. The bottom line is we won the game. Our guys were tough, and they found a way to win. The Mustangs didn’t need a pretty win. We just needed a win.”
Sophomore running back Jaxon Lyons was the statistical hero for East, bolting for 124 rushing yards on 21 carries and scoring two touchdowns. Lyons was lauded for his effort, and rightly so, by the exuberant WSAT radio crew, which finally had a pulsating East football game to send out over the air waves. There weren’t any of those in 2024. In 2024, it was usually all over by halftime.
Flynn’s choice as East’s “Friday Night Hero” was a senior who wasn’t a statistical hero, but is an athlete who symbolizes what the program went through last year, how far it has come, and where it is now.
“Nolan Strozier was the unsung hero for the Wheatmore game,” Flynn said. “This is a guy who came out for football for the first time last year and was part of an 0-10 team. But like a lot of his teammates, he made a decision to get better. They have busted their tails in the weight room for a year to get stronger.”
Strozier is normally the H-back in East’s offense. East is a run-first team, so that makes him basically an old-school blocking back.
“There’s not much love for the H-back in what we do on offense,” Flynn said. “But Strozier is totally unselfish, and he gives us everything he has blocking on every play, and he did a great job blocking on the edge on Friday. He’s the same way in class and in the weight room and in everything he does. He’s all-in. He’s all-in on our men’s volleyball team. He’s one of those kids that you’re just proud to be his coach.”
Strozier would have been content blocking all night long, but with the score tied 13-all, East got a stop and had the ball with time enough for one more drive to try to win the game in regulation.
No more finesse. The Mustangs relied on sheer power on that last drive.
“We went to our heavy package for that last drive — ‘Jumbo’ is what we call it,” Flynn said.
In that offense, Strozier becomes more of a fullback, a ball-carrier. Most of the 44 yards Strozier gained were on that final drive., not only against Wheatmore but against the clock.
On fourth-and-1 at the Wheatmore 6, with the clock getting down near a minute left, Flynn didn’t send in the field goal unit.
The Mustangs plowed straight ahead. They got 2 yards on fourth down, and it was first-and-goal.
With 28 seconds left, it was Strozer who put the ball in the end zone to break the tie, as the fan base went delirious.
“Happy for Strozier, happy for our linemen, happy for our team, happy for our community,” Flynn said. “Just was a great feeling to see that ball go into the end zone.”
The 1-0 Mustangs reported back to work on Monday. There were smiles, but no one was satisfied.
“I told them matter-of-factly that they’d done a good job and they’d gotten a good win,” Flynn said. “But I also told them they couldn’t let winning on opening night be the pinnacle of their season. This was just the first step. We all believe we’re going to have even better moments.”
