By Mike London
Salisbury Post
LANDIS — South Rowan sophomore Jayden Arthur rushed for 129 yards in a win on opening night, but he wasn’t available in Week 2.
Well, next man up.
In his first varsity start, junior Nic Woolf (5-10, 175) turned in one of the most prolific rushing games in South history with 22 carries for 263 yards and five touchdowns.
There was a combination of factors at work. First, the opponent — Langtree Charter Academy — was playing its second varsity football game ever.
Second, South went even more run-heavy than the original game plan called for, throwing the ball only four times, so Woolf got a lot of touches.
Still, you have to give Woolf and South’s offensive line, which registered 19 pancakes, credit. They did what they needed to do in a 42-26 victory that lifted the Raiders to a 2-0 start. Owen Smith, Woolf’s rugged wrestling teammate who plays fullback and linebacker, chipped in with a productive rushing game and scored a touchdown.
Woolf entered the game with lofty goals.
“The goals I set were 100 yards and two touchdowns,” he said.
He exceeded his wildest expectations.
Woolf is only the third South player to score five touchdowns in a game. Chris Torrence did it in 1995 against West Rowan. Derrick Blackwell accomplished the feat in 2013 against Cox Mill.
As far as rushing yards, Woolf owns the fourth-highest total in program history. Darius Beaty torched West Forsyth for 295 in 2005. Landon Richards had two monster games for Walsh in 2023 — 288 yards against East Rowan and 265 against Central Cabarrus. Woolf’s effort comes next on the all-time list for a program that has had some super backs.
“I was surprised when I heard the stats,” Woolf said. “Great job by our offensive line. They made the holes for me.”
Langtree Charter lost 64-0 to West Wilkes on opening night, but South head coach Chris Walsh watched the film of that brutal blowout and was concerned.
“Despite that big score, we could see Langtree had some players, we saw they can throw the ball, and we knew that playing at home with a game under their belts, they would play much better against us,” he said.
That proved to be the case. South had to overcome a nightmarish start on the road.
“They scored. We fumbled. They scored,” Walsh said. “They hit us with everything they had and we were in a 14-0 hole. But we leaned on our offensive line, we’ve got good seniors there, and we leaned on Woolf, and we just started pounding the ball at them — 8 yards, 10 yards, 12 yards at a clip. We marched. They didn’t stop us after that early fumble. We scored on six straight drives.”
South had come back to a 20-14 deficit at the half and controlled the second half with defense and the running game.
“That’s who we are this year,” Walsh said. “Our guys understand that. Old school. Blue collar. Pound the ball. Play tough defense. Woolf is a hard-nosed guy and he fits right into that style of play.”
Walsh said Woolf may have had the quietest five-TD performance of all time.
“He wasn’t jumping around and high-fiving everyone, even after the fifth one,” Walsh said. “As great a night as he had, he stayed even-keel. He was just one of the guys out there doing his job.”
Woolf, who paid his dues on the jayvees for two years, said his monster night has raised his profile at school. Even students he didn’t know were coming up to congratulate him in the hallways this week. Five touchdowns will make you famous in a hurry.
“A lot of people at school are excited that the team won again,” Woolf said. “It’s been a pretty cool week for me.”
Walsh and Woolf gave running backs coach Zane Tutterow a shoutout as well aso-line coach Ian McLemore.
The next order of business at South may be getting some sort of wolf howl set up on the PA for Woolf’s future visits to the end zone.
