North head coach Josh Sophia
By Mike London
Salisbury Post
2026 NORTH ROWAN FOOTBALL
2025 season: 7-5 overall, 6-1 Yadkin Valley Conference, tied for 1st
Who beat the Cavaliers? West Rowan, Salisbury, Lake Norman Charter, North Stanly, Corvian Community School (first round of 2A playoffs)
Who did the Cavaliers beat? Union Academy Charter, Bonnie Cone Leadership Academy, South Stanly, Thomas Jefferson Classical Academy, Albemarle, Mountain Island Charter, Avery County (first round of 2A playoffs)
State of the program: Starting his fourth season, North head coach Josh Sophia likes his job, his school and his players. This is still a really good football school. Seven of the last eight head coaches, including Sophia, have posted winning career records. North still has excellent skill athletes and still has no shortage of work ethic, but the numbers in he program are light, so it’s imperative for the Cavaliers to stay reasonably healthy if they’re going to continue to win.
Head coach: Sophia is 25-13 after three winning seasons, the best of which was his debut in 2023 when the Cavaliers were 11-3 and reached the fourth round of the 1A state playoffs. The last two years the Cavaliers have put up 7-5 records and dropped their second playoff outing. That’s not bad, but they set their goals higher.
Coaches: It’s a smaller group relative to the staffs at most of the county schools, but it’s stable. Former star running back Malcolm Wilson will be calling plays this season.
Philosophy: North is committed to running the ball more than a lot of people think. The Cavaliers throw it efficiently and with some purpose, but establishing the run sets that up. The defense includes a combination of tough guys and speed guys and has a chance to be stouter than the unit that allowed three TDs per game in 2025.
“We’ve still got really good skill people, really hard-working kids and dedicated coaches,” Sophia said. “That’s who we are. If we can develop a few more linemen and if we can stay healthy, we can have a strong season.”
A point of emphasis will getting off to a better start. North stumbled out of the gate 0-3 last season. Those early setbacks included a game against West Rowan in which the Cavaliers wore down late after having the early momentum, a shootout defeat against Salisbury that could have gone either way, and a loss to Lake Norman Charter in a game the Cavs fully expected to win. That one really hurt. It still hurts.
“That 0-3 start killed us when it came time for the playoff seeding,” Sophia said. “We won six of our next seven games, but we couldn’t make up for the slow start. But say we start 2-1 this year in the non-conference games, then our seeding could be much different.”
Worth noting: The program is 450-307-10, so the Cavaliers could lose 100 in a row and still have a pretty solid all-time record. Not that they expect any losing streaks anytime soon.
Scrimmages: North will take on Atkins at home the first week of scrimmages. North will have a marquee matchup in the Rowan County Jamboree as the Cavaliers battle East Rowan in the finale.
The numbers: North had 30-something players participating most of the summer, usually close to 40. Sophia hopes to have 50 in uniform by opening day. There are normally some transportation challenges for the young players prior to school starting.
Key returners: Mike Alford, Rowan County Offensive Player of the Year, returns at quarterback. That’s a big plus. He was dynamic in his first season as QB1. Dyaon Norman-Jackson is a returning 1,000-yard receiver. That combo could lead the county in passing and receiving, even on a run-first team. North averaged five touchdowns per game in 2025 and would like to repeat that production.
There also are some studs on the defensive side, paced by safety Nick Morrow.
Key newcomer: North added three transfers, all of whom are expected by Sophia to be impactful. Kenny Harper is the most familiar one. He was an excellent player for Albemarle in 2025.
Quarterback: Alford put up staggering stats, throwing about 18 passes per game and completing 61 percent of his attempt. He passed for 2,865 yards and 28 touchdowns, with eight interceptions. His backup probably will come from the receivers room. Norman-Jackson could take some snaps.
Running back: The Cavaliers will miss Jo Jo Tarver, who amassed 851 rushing yards and 11 TDs. North is counting on sophomore Brandon Clodfelter to carry most of the rushing load this time. He logged quite a bit of experience as a varsity freshman with 37 carries for 163 yards and four visits to the end zone.
Shakeel Monroe Jr. is a sprinter and will get touches, as will athletic Keese Carpenter. Alford is a forceful runner and probably will have 10 carries per game. He had 264 rushing yards and three TDs in 2025.
Tight end: Khi Walker is big (6-foot-3) and can line up as a tight end or as a wideout and can be a matchup problem. He’s coming off a productive season with 21 catches for 359 yards and five TDs. He’s also a favorite target on 2-point conversions.
Harper probably will provide his biggest boost to the defensive side, but he also gives North another tight end option. He’s an athletic 215 pounds.
Wide receivers: North will miss A’son Best, who was a powerful force on kick returns and could quickly turn screens into touchdowns, but Norman-Jackson was almost equally productive as far as yardage in 2025. Norman-Jackson had a 1,000-yard season with 33 catches, which means he averaged better than 30 yards per reception. North will take a shot down the field just about anytime it can get single coverage on Norman-Jackson.
Walker, Monroe and Carpenter will provide additional athletic targets.
Offensive line: Center Jalen Sankey returns to anchor the offensive line. North also has returning starters in tackle King Feamster and young guard Deveon Miller-Melton. Bryce Botts played a lot of snaps last season. There’s some good competition for the fifth spot. so the o-line could be in solid shape by the time YVC play starts.
Kicker: The soccer team normally provides help, although Sophia rarely sees those athletes in the summer, so nothing is set in stone yet. Jordin Moreno, who was a junior, was an asset in the kicking game last season.
Defensive line: Harper, Walker and Zay Alexander, a transfer from Maryland, are studs. Dylan Garrigus is coming off a solid season. Youngster Tyaon Howell has looked good. Freshman Khalil Harper looks like he may be ready for varsity action. Miller-Melton can also help on the d-line.
Linebacker: The Cavaliers don’t like to over-use Alford, but their defense is always better when he’s at inside linebacker. Jyhaire Tillman, Cameron Hickerson, Clodfelter and Walker are linebacker names to know.
Alford led the team with 11 tackles for loss and 5.5 sacks in 2025 and was in on 57 tackles.
“We’ll have to rest him some, and that usually is going to be when we’re on defense,” Sophia said.
Defensive back: This should be an area of condiderable strength for the Cavaliers with Morrow back at free safety and Monroe returning at strong safety. Tennyson Kirk and Carpenter should be solid at the corners. Norman-Jackson will be important in the secondary, as will Aiden Byers.
Morrow, Monroe and Carpenter all had two interceptions last season. Morrow is the leading returner tackler for the team with 70 stops in 2025.
Outlook: A better start obviously will be a key to a better overall record and a deeper playoff run. The Yadkin Valley Conference (at least for football) is kind of an odd, eight-team conglomeration of spread-out teams. North had lopsided routs of Bonnie Cone and Thomas Jefferson last season, but most of the league was quite competitive. North Rowan’s YVC victories against South Stanly, Mountain Island Charter and Albemarle in 2025 were quality wins. The Cavaliers shared the league title with South Stanly and North Stanly. North expects to contend for YVC honors again.
NORTH ROWAN
Aug. 14 Rowan County Jamboree (at Catawba, vs. East Rowan)
Aug. 21 at West Rowan
Aug. 28 SALISBURY
Sept. 4 at Lake Norman Charter
Sept. 11 Open
Sept. 18 at Union Charter Academy
Sept. 25 BONNIE CONE
Oct. 2 SOUTH STANLY
Oct. 9 at Thomas Jefferson
Oct. 16 NORTH STANLY
Oct. 23 at Albemarle
Oct. 30 MOUNTAIN ISLAND CHARTER
