By Mike London
Salisbury Post
SPENCER —North Rowan coaches watched South Stanly film and were well aware that the key to victory on the road on Friday would be containing Jasiah Holt, a senior receiver/safety who is the Bulls’ most talented and dangerous player.
Holt had 56 catches for 1,110 yards and 14 touchdowns as a junior and has gotten better. His ceiling is pretty high. There was a game against Piedmont this season when Holt produced nine catches for 225 yards and three TDs, and he’s the guy South Stanly QB Kaleb Richardson looks for when the Bulls need a play.
“Holt is a really good player,” North head coach Josh Sophia said. “And we knew we couldn’t let him have the sort of game he had against Piedmont.”
Fortunately for the Cavaliers, they had a good player to cover Holt. Senior Jaiden Brown isn’t a household name and he is only 5-foot-8, but he’s an athletic guy who plays basketball and baseball as well as football for the Cavaliers.
Brown got the assignment.
“Jaiden is the guy we put on the other team’s best receiver,” Sophia said.
North also knew it wasn’t going to be able to give Brown much help. North was getting trampled by running teams early in the season and had to make adjustments.
“The way people were running the ball on us, we knew we needed to get seven or eight guys in the box,” Sophia said.
That meant more one-on-one coverage by the secondary. So Brown was going to be out there often on an island against a sensational player.
“He’s one of those special athletes, so it really was a challenge,” Brown said. “It was a tough matchup for me, but guys look to me to be one of the leaders of our defense, and I was determined not to give Holt big plays.”
It was a challenging game for the Cavaliers. North expected to have a huge advantage in the kicking game, but instead the Cavaliers were beaten in that phase. That was disappointing. They trailed 14-13 going to the fourth quarter, but they were able to pull out a 20-14 win and stay unbeaten in the Yadkin Valley Conference. The Cavaliers handed the Bulls their first league loss. North Rowan is now tied with North Stanly for first place.
One of the most intriguing aspects of Friday’s game in Norwood was Brown’s individual battle with Holt.
“It was like a game within a game being played by those two,” Sophia said. “That was really strong matchup, fun to watch. They were going at each other, and I don’t mean there was anything bad happening out there. It was just two good players playing football. Holt got some catches. You’re not going to shut him down. But Jaiden didn’t let him have a big game. He did a lot to win the game for us.”
Holt had three catches for 53 yards. Brown could live with that, and the Cavaliers certainly could live with that. Richardson threw the ball 20 times, was picked off twice, and was able to produce only 103 yards in the air. That was a win for North Rowan.
Brown got one of the interceptions.
“I just tried to keep Holt in front of me, no deep balls,” Brown said.
North coaches were not surprised that Brown held his own in the key matchup.
“He’s been a good player for us for three years,” Sophia said. “I remember the Lexington game his sophomore year. He had a huge pick-six in that one.”
Brown doesn’t leave the field much, as he is one of the receivers when North is on offense. He also gets a chance to make plays in the kicking game. He had a punt return touchdown the week prior to the South Stanly game.
“We understand special teams are a chance to make things happen,” Brown said. “Our coaches told me not to let punts bounce and roll, to go up and catch the ball. I got under that one and I was able to run it back.”
North’s 0-3 start is water under the bridge now. The Cavaliers reset with the start of conference play, and they have taken care of all of their YVC games, including two on the road. They’ll be at home this Friday against Thomas Jefferson Classical Academy.
North is playing some new foes and is visiting new stadiums. Brown said the unknown is exciting. North doesn’t know those teams well, but those teams don’t know a lot about North, either.
“I remember the coaches gave us a good pep talk right before conference started,” Brown said. “We’ve won three straight. Now we’ve got some momentum. We just need to keep it going.”
