By Mike London
Salisbury Post
SALISBURY — The roots of Rowan County high school football can be traced back 110 years to October 1915 when 26 Salisbury High youngsters, most of them brand new to the sport, challenged an experienced Greensboro team to a game.
That was not a great idea. While the Oct. 23 game was hyped by the Salisbury Post and attracted a throng of 350 fans to the old fairgrounds in Salisbury, Greensboro gave the local lads a 57-0 beating.
Salisbury High’s first head football coach was a doctor named H.H. Newman, the man for whom Newman Park is named. Football apparently was not his forte. He lasted two games at the helm. His second contest was a 76-0 road loss at Statesville. The Statesville back who scored nine touchdowns in that disastrous drubbing may still hold the all-time record for TDs scored against Salisbury.
Still not ready to give up on the strange game played with an oblong ball, Salisbury replaced Newman with Bob Doak. Doak was no fool and brought several experienced recruits with him for Salisbury’s third football effort— a home game against Concord. A fellow named William Snider scored the first TD in Salisbury history and Snider also scored the second.
Salisbury led 12-0 when geography became a factor. The field at the fairgrounds was sloped. Salisbury was running downhill when Snider barreled for both of his touchdowns, but Concord benefited from the lopsided landscape in the fourth quarter and made a comeback. Salisbury made two miscues attempting to punt uphill, and Concord capitalized with two touchdowns. Even in 1915, accidents in the kicking game got you beat in a hurry, and Concord kicked a PAT to claim a 13-12 victory.
Wearing orange and black uniforms, Salisbury went 0-5 that first year, with two agonizing losses to Concord, two brutal losses to Greensboro and the complete debacle at Statesville. But the 1915 season provided a starting point for high school football in the city and in the county.
A year later, in 1916, Salisbury would taste the thrill of victory twice, whipping Concord 21-0 at home and 6-0 on the road at Locke Mill.
The Salisbury-Concord football series peaked during coach Pete Stout’s time guiding Boyden and Salisbury football teams in the late 1960s and 1970s. From 1968-75, the schools played a bruiser every year as South Piedmont Conference rivals. In 1972, Concord beat Salisbury by a baseball score — 5-0. In 1973 and 1974, Salisbury won back-to-back Western North Carolina High School Activities Association championships, but Concord always was a formidable obstacle to success. The Hornets beat Concord 14-13 in 1973 and lost to the Spiders 13-0 in 1974.
Despite being only 23 miles apart, the programs went their separate ways for a long time. They haven’t played in 25 years — not since the Hornets edged Concord 18-14 in 2000 for one of their three wins that season.
The rivalry finally gets a renewal on Friday with Salisbury back in the SPC for the first time since the 1992-93 school year. Concord (4-4, 3-2) has enjoyed a much better season than the Hornets (2-6, 1-4), but will be only a seven-point favorite on E.Z. Smith Field at Bailey Stadium. The Hornets are given a 33 percent win probability by the Massey Ratings.
Salisbury’s Isaiah Foxx is second in the county in most of the passing stats. He’s thrown for 1,372 yards, while running for 456.
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Another game with some history behind it will be Friday’s Albemarle at North Rowan contest.
The programs will be squaring off for the first time since 2019. North won that one 36-33.
While North leads the all-time series 9-7, the Bulldogs have beaten North twice in monstrous match-ups.
Albemarle’s 29-22 victory over the Cavaliers in 2012 decided the Yadkin Valley Conference championship.
In 1994, the programs battled in a game that drew statewide attention. That was the season teams played 11 official games for the first time, and when North and Albemarle collided in the final week of the regular season, both squads were 10-0, so it was a unique confrontation, unprecedented for a NCHSAA regular-season contest. It was a rare big game that lived up to the hype. It was a classic. Albemarle won 28-21 in overtime.
It’s not supposed to be exciting this time. North (4-4, 4-1) is favored by 34 points over the Bulldogs (4-4, 2-3) by the Massey Ratings and has a win probability of 99 percent. Those are the sort of odds a trout gets against a shark.
North’s Mike Alford has thrown for 1,792 yards and 17 touchdowns. A’son Best has been the county’s top receiver with 46 catches for 931 yards and seven TDs. Best has also run back three kickoffs for touchdowns.
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There’s another county game this Friday. This time it’s South Rowan (3-5, 0-5) at East Rowan (3-5, 1-4) at W.A. Cline Stadium.
The Massey Ratings favor South by six points, although most fans would pick the Mustangs. East does seem to be playing better than South right now. South has lost five in a row and hasn’t really been in a game in a while.
South did wallop East 33-7 in 2024 when the Raiders had a senior-heavy team. East’s most recent victory over South was in 2022. South leads the all-time series 34-24.
South’s Nic Woolf has rushed for 700 yards and is second in the county. East’s Jason Bonds is one of the county’s top receivers wit 29 catches for 407 yards and six TDs. The Mustangs have better offensive balance than the Raiders who have been playing without quarterback Lincoln Carlberg, but it’s one of those games that probably comes do wn to who prevails in the turnover battle.
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Pulverized by Robinson last week, West Rowan (4-4, 3-2) has a tough bounce-back assignment Friday at home against a Northwest Cabarrus squad (7-1, 5-0) that is almost as powerful as Robinson.
Rowan County football is not having a banner season. West is 4-0 in county games, finding the grit for rallies against North Rowan, Carson and East Rowan, but the Falcons are ranked 170th in the state by MaxPreps.
West will try to change a trend of losing to teams outside the county, but it won’t be easy. The Falcons will be 21-point underdogs against the Trojans. The Massey Ratings give the Falcons a 12 percent win probability.
Northwest pulled out a 30-21 decision against West in 2024, the fourth straight time Northwest has beaten the Falcons. West’s last win in the series came in the fall of 2021. West still has the edge in the all-time series, 21-11.
West’s Devaunh White is Rowan’s leading rusher with 149 carries for 916 yards. Northwest back Titus Troy has been crushing all the Rowan teams in the SPC.
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Carson’s veer offense will try to move the ball at home on Friday against a Robinson team that will present the strongest defensive line the Cougars have seen to this point.
Robinson (7-1, 5-0) also has no shortage of offense. QB Aury Greenfield had the sort of game against West Rowan last week that makes cheerleaders faint, gets your number retired and gets statues built. He threw for 340 yards and ran for a bunch.
Carson (4-4, 2-3) got a great game from QB Griffin Barber last week and will hope for another one.
Robinson is favored by 35 points. The Cougars are given a zero percent win probability, so an upset would be an earthquake felt across the entire planet.
Carson is 2-8 against Robinson all-time and has lost the last eight meetings. The Bulldogs rolled 36-0 in 2024. Carson’s most recent success against the Bulldogs was in 2010.
K.J. Pressley broke the Carson record for receiving yards in a game with 241 in the 2012 loss to Robinson, Carson will need that sort of game from someone to have a shot.
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A.L. Brown is favored by 21 points to win its Greater Metro Conference home game against Cox Mill (3-5, 2-3) on Friday.
The Wonders (5-3, 4-1) have gotten a great season from back Lemar Grier, who has rushed 114 times for 815 yards and 15 TDs. He is becoming a bigger part of the offense every week.
The Wonders lead the all-time series 8-4. The Wonders won 21-14 in 2024, but the Chargers won three straight before that.
