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Salisbury nips South Rowan

Donnie Biggers

Sports correspondent

Published: August 23, 2008

SALISBURY - For the first time in three seasons as head coach, South Rowan's Jason Rollins felt the Raiders were looking at a winnable opener.
But by the time the clock hit zero in the fourth quarter, costly penalties and mistakes left the Raiders on the short end of a 16-14 decision to Salisbury Friday night at Salisbury High's Ludwig Stadium.
Salisbury scored on the game's second play from scrimmage and added another only 7:46 into the proceedings to take a 13-0 lead.
"We came out and we felt we were prepared, but unfortunately things occurred," said Rollins. "The pregame speech was about dealing with adversity and sharing that adversity together as a team.
"We came into this game feeling like we should win this ballgame, and I still feel like we should have won this ballgame."
In spite of the poor start, and 12 penalties, the Raiders had a chance at the end.
With four minutes to play, and trailing 16-6, junior quarterback Blake Houston led the Raiders on a 91-yard scoring drive. Houston's 11-yard touchdown pass to Quan Glasby and a two-point conversion run by fullback Deandre Harris pulled South within 16-14 with 1:18 to play.
But with only two timeouts left, Rollins chose to go with an onside kick that failed, leaving the Hornets able to run out the clock.
"I feel like we lost this ballgame; we let this one get away from us," said Rollins, who had 3-8 seasons in his first two as South's head coach. "We've not been in this situation the last two years, so this feels different."
Though it allowed a 46-yard run by Hornet Dario Hamilton on the first play from scrimmage that set up a 12-yard touchdown run one play later by Isaiah Whitaker, the South defense turned in a solid effort.
Salisbury's second score was of the freak variety. After the left side of the South defense stacked up Hamilton for a three-yard gain on the next possession, the ball popped out into the middle of the field where Hornets running back A.J. Ford scooped it up and went 84 yards for a touchdown to make it 13-0.
"We just gave up two easy scores," said Rollins. "Two scores we never should have given up."
The South offense tried to take advantage of the fact the defense allowed Salisbury only a 39-yard Frankie Cardelle field goal over the final three quarters.
Led by the triple-option play of Houston, South Rowan finished with 331 yards total offense. Unfortunately, the Raiders had three offensive possessions to reach the red zone in the first quarters that ended with no points.
In spite of the missed opportunities, Rollins felt the Raiders did things to build on going into next Friday's game at Kannapolis.
"I thought we moved the ball well, we took the ball and moved it down the field about as well as you could ask," said Rollins.
"I fully believe (Houston) can do what we want him to do, because he is a true option quarterback. We just need to do a better job establishing the option."
Houston rushed for 102 yards on 21 carries and completed eight of 16 passes for 104 yards with two interceptions.
A 10-yard run by Glasby with 24.3 seconds left in the second quarter pulled South back within 13-6.
Along with his field goal, Cardelle proved to be one of Salisbury's biggest weapons after the fast start. The senior had four kickoffs into the endzone for touchbacks, and punts that went out-of-bounds at the South 12 and 9.