By Mike London
Salisbury Post
SALISBURY — Week 7 of the local football season looks flatter than a waffle in Nebraska, duller than a long-winded politician.
Football is supposed to be fun for everyone, but there are a lot of games on Friday’s docket with running clock written all over them. There are lots of 36-point favorites and 100-percent win probabilities.
But you never know. There’s a reason they play the games, and teenagers have been known to be unpredictable. People who were at East Rowan’s W.A. Cline Stadium last Friday can tell you all about that.
After six football games, the best record in Rowan County is an uninspiring 3-3.
West Rowan, South Rowan, North Rowan, Carson and East Rowan are all 3-3, although they’ve taken different routes to get to the break-even point. South won its first three. North won its last three.
Salisbury is 1-5, including a loss at East Rowan last week after building an 18-point lead.
If you’re wondering when the Hornets most recently started 1-5, that was the 2016 squad that finished 3-8. The winning for the Hornets resumed in 2017 with the hire of Brian Hinson as head coach and it continued for a long time under Clayton Trivett — 7-4, 7-5, 13-3, 9-2, 11-2, 12-1 and 11-2. Salisbury was 56-10 the last five seasons, so a rebuilding project in 2025 hasn’t been easy on the digestive systems of Hornet fans and coaches.
Rowan’s overall football record is 16-20. Take out the county games and Rowan teams are 10-14 against teams outside the county and most of those wins came against teams that aren’t scaring anyone except their own fans. Carson’s victory against Mount Pleasant is still the best win a Rowan team has achieved against a non-Rowan squad. North Rowan’s win at South Stanly last week probably ranks second.
The only Rowan team with a reasonable chance to win a conference championship is North Rowan. North Stanly is probably the Yadkin Valley Conference favorite, at this point, but the Cavaliers definitely are in the mix.
In the South Piedmont Conference, it’s likely that none of the five Rowan teams will finish in the top three. That may change if Carson can win against Concord on Friday. How healthy the Cougars will be after a disastrous game against Northwest Cabarrus is a question mark, but that matchup still looks like the most likely game on Friday’s schedule to produce a decent amount of uncertainty and excitement.
West Rowan is on track to take the county championship after wins against Carson and South and still could climb back in the SPC race, but the Concord loss hurts. West will be an underdog against Northwest Cabarrus and Robinson.
The stats for Rowan athletes have been crazy in recent years, with school records falling every few minutes at Salisbury and North Rowan and even a few at South Rowan, but things have settled down some in 2025.
North’s Mike Alford leads the passers with 1,258 yards and 11 touchdowns, with only three interceptions. Salisbury’s Isaiah Foxx has thrown for 927 yards.
West has discovered a star in sophomore Devaunh White, who took over the county rushing lead last week. White has rushed 119 times for 746 yards and eight TDs. White has taken on KP Parks-like workloads and has amassed over 400 yards during the last two weeks.
South’s Nic Woolf had a pair of 200-yard games early in the season, but has slowed down some in the SPC. He’s second in the county with 627 rushing yards, while Carson’s Damo’n Broussard is third with 522. After a slow start, North’s Jo Jo Tarver has started to make some progress on the county rushing list and now has 460 yards.
Woolf still leads Rowan with nine rushing TDs.
As far as receiving, there’s North’s A’son Best — and then there’s everyone else.
Best is having a terrific season with 36 catches for 668 yards and four TDs. His teammate, Dyaon Norman-Jackson, is second in the county with 384 receiving yards and averages 27 yards per catch.
Salisbury’s Jay’lin Johnson is third in receiving yards, but his season may be over. He broke a hand in the game with Robinson and missed the East Rowan game.
Hornet Jonathan Ross, who is making a football comeback this season, is fourth in the county with 250 receiving yards. East’s Jason Bonds jumped to fifth in the county with his monster game against the Hornets. He had 164 of his 249 receiving yards against Salisbury.
Besides reeling in passes, Best has two kickoff return touchdowns to lead the county. North’s Jaiden Brown has the only punt return TD so far.
Carter Durant leads Rowan in kicking points with 18. He kicked his first field goal of the season last week.
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For some reason, the Massey Ratings favor the Wonders by 28 points over Central Cabarrus (2-4, 1-2) in a Greater Metro Conference game, but it looks like a contest that will be decided by single digits. Central has been involved in a lot of tight games.
The Wonders (3-3, 2-1) own a 26-2 lead in the all-time series. They also won the most recent meeting in 2021, but the Vikings won in 2018 and 2019.
Lemar Grier is emerging as a star running back for the Wonders. He has over 500 rushing yards and nine TDs.
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Carson is only a 9-point underdog at Concord, although the Spiders (3-3, 2-1) are playing quite well. They had a respectable loss to Robinson last week and they own a big win against West Rowan.
Carson (3-3, 1-2) has lost two straight but is given a 27 percent chance of winning by the Massey Ratings, so it would be a surprise if the Cougars upset the Spiders, but not world-shocking.
Concord’s 7-2 lead in the series includes a win in the 2010 state playoffs. Carson beat the Spiders as recently as 2023. Concord prevailed 24-3 in 2024.
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East Rowan can say that it’s beaten West Rowan twice in this century. No other Rowan program can make that claim, as West has won 91 of its last 97 county games.
East (3-3, 1-2) beat West in 2012 to stop the Falcons’ 11-year, 44-game county winning streak. East also trounced the Falcons in 2014, putting 59 points on the scoreboard, but West has won them all since then.
West’s 35-23-1 edge in the all-time series includes a 56-6 romp in 2024.
West (3-3, 2-1) is favored by 36 points by the Massey Ratings and is given a 100 percent win probability.
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South Rowan’s three-game losing streak will be extended to four unless a miracle occurs at South.
Robinson (5-1, 3-0) is favored over the Raiders (3-3, 0-3) by 42 points and has a 100 percent win probability.
The Bulldogs won 48-7 in 2024 and lead the all-time series 7-1. South’s triumph was in 2009.
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Northwest Cabarrus is the homecoming guest for Salisbury.
Believe it or not, they’ve never squared off on a football field.
The Trojans (5-1, 3-0) are on a roll, while the Hornets (1-5, 0-3) are not. Northwest is a 22-point favorite.
Northwest has beaten Rowan teams three weeks in a row and will look to make it four. Running back Titus Troy has consistently put up wild numbers.
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North Rowan is a 36-point favorite to win Friday’s Yadkin Valley Conference home game with Thomas Jefferson Classical Academy, which will be making a trip from Rutherford County.
The Cavaliers have a 99 percent win probability, according to the Massey Ratings.
The Gryphons (3-3, 1-2) have taken on North Rowan (3-3, 3-0) once before in football. That game was a classic 2021 playoff matchup won by North, 21-20.
