Turnovers lead to first defeat for Northwest

By Bill Kiser
Kannapolis Citizen
Northwest Cabarrus didn’t do many things well last week and dug itself into a hole with turnovers in suffering its first loss of the season.
Now, the Trojans look to bounce back from that loss — but they have to do it against one of the top teams in the North Piedmont Conference when they play host to West Rowan on Friday night.
Game time is 7:30 p.m. at Northwest’s Trojan Stadium.
Northwest Cabarrus (2-1, 0-1) turned the ball over seven times and was shut out for more than three quarters in falling to South Rowan 27-6 last week.
In that game, Trojan quarterback Jonathon Wallace threw for a season-best 171 yards and one touchdown, but he was also picked off five times — one of which led to a 94-yard return for a score by South’s Mark McDaniel in the second quarter.
Add to that a pair of fumbles and just 56 rushing yards against the Raiders’ defense, and 129 rushing yards and three touchdowns by South back Deandre Harris, and Northwest found itself on a wrong end of a long night.
“They were a very good team and they played extremely well,” Trojans head coach Rich Williams said of the Raiders.
“They did what they wanted to do defensively against us … our offensive line didn’t do very well, our running backs didn’t do well and our quarterback didn’t do well. Offensively, we didn’t play a very good game at all.
“Defensively, we did OK — we did really well in the second half … but this is a complete game, and we’ve got to play better if we expect to be successful.”
That’s an understatement, considering who the Trojans face next.
The Falcons (2-1, 1-0) are coming off a 42-0 thrashing of conference foe North Iredell last week, bouncing back from a 35-21 loss to 4A power Davie County a week earlier.
West Rowan’s main threat comes from its ground game — namely, junior back K.P. Parks, who tore through North’s defense for 237 yards and five touchdowns.
However, the Falcons have more to worry opponents than just Parks — they can throw the ball, shown by B.J. Sherrill’s
44-yard TD pass to Brantley Horton last week.
West Rowan also sports a defense that held North Iredell to just four first downs and eight yards total offense (including minus-23 yards rushing) in recording its second shutout of the season last week.
“Their running back is a stud … and their offensive line fires off the ball very well. They come after you offensively,” Williams said. “Defensively, up front their line is very, very good — they don’t yield too much.”
One thing the Trojans will work on this week is holding onto the football — “You can’t turn the ball over seven times and expect to win,” Williams said — but improving overall will be a must if Northwest wants to contend with the Falcons.
“We’re going to have to be ready for them,” Williams said. “They’re the returning conference champions, and we’re going to have to play better. They’re going to definitely be ready for us … so we’re going to have to work hard this week and get ready for a tough team.
“We’ve got a lot of tough teams in our conference, and we can’t take any breathers because anybody can beat anybody on any Friday night. We’re going to work hard this week and try to correct our mistakes, and hopefully we’ll get better as a team.”