By Mike London
Salisbury Post
MOUNT ULLA — You hear the term “conflicted defenders” often in modern coach-speak.
It doesn’t mean members of the defensive unit are fighting each other in the locker room.
Basically, a “conflicted defender” is tasked with a dual role. He is responsible for defending a gap against the run, but he also has pass coverage responsibility. It’s a challenging job, especially against running quarterbacks, who can put enormous pressure on the safeties.
“Slow to go, but fast once you know,” is the mantra for conflicted defenders.
The West Rowan Falcon most frequently in conflict is strong safety Lucas Watts. He is critical to West’s run defense because he will hit people and has linebacker size at 6-foot-1, 190 pounds, and he is critical to the pass defense because he can motor like a cornerback.
Watts has made 55 tackles and has recovered two fumbles.
You hear coaches talk about guys flying around and making plays. That’s Watts.
“There have been some streaks, some times this season, where he’s been the best player on the field,” Kraft said.
Watts grew up playing for the South Rowan YFL teams, so some of his best friends — and toughest opponents — are the guys at Carson and South Rowan that he knows very well.
He had an older brother, Hunter Watts, who played for the Falcons in the COVID days and graduated in 2021.
Watts went to West Rowan Middle School, where it appears that his future would be on offense as a running back or receiver.
He’s made a transition in high school to defense. He moved up to the West varsity as a sophomore and became a starter at free safety.
He started again at free safety as a junior, but as a senior he’s taken on more challenges. Officially, he’s the strong safety on the depth chart, but West’s defensive priority is always to stop the run first, so he plays safety close to the line of scrimmage. He’s more like an outside linebacker. If it’s an obvious passing down, like third-and-8, West will back Watts up and let him focus on pass defense.
Because of his wheels, Watts always plays the wide side of the field.
“We are always going to be firm against the run,” Kraft said. “That means our guys on the back end are going to be in conflict and will have to win a lot of 1-on-1 match-ups, whether it’s in coverage or in the destruction of blocks to get to the screens and perimeter runs.”
Watts has made game-changing plays. Kraft remembers him stopping a critical fourth-down screen in the Carson game.
“He let the play develop, and then he made a great open-field tackle,” Kraft said.
“I made two interceptions in the North Rowan game to start the season,” Watts added. “That was the only game that I played free safety. We got down early, but a fumble changed the momentum and we came back and won pretty big. We were down three TDs at East Rowan, but Kaden Sanders made an interception to turn that game around. Then I made a stop on a 2-point conversion that decided the game at the end.”
West employs Watts on kickoff returns and punt returns. He’s an exceptional punt returner, a duty that requires courage and judgment, even more than speed.
“I’ve had longer returns, but the most clutch play I made on special teams was a punt return against Northwest Cabarrus,” Watts said. “You always want to catch the punts because if you let it bounce it might roll 20 yards. So you’ve got to decide to fair catch it or try to return it. I returned the one against Northwest 22 yards to their 41 at a key point in the game. That was an important win for us. That’s the game that solidified us as a legit team.”
West (7-4) has had its ups and downs, but it was able to bounce back from a disappointing loss to Concord and a blowout loss against Robinson.
“We’ve always been able to rally the troops,” Watts said.
Watts has been a key guy in most of those rallies.
“He loves to play the game,” Kraft said. “He’s one of those guys that always will find his way to the football, whether that’s an interception, a kick return or an open-field tackle.”
