Prep Football: A.L. Brown 29, Mooresville 26

It was a great night at Kannapolis Memorial Stadium as we welcomed our old rival, the Mooresville Blue Devils. The Blue Devils brought a huge crowd of fans, almost filling up the entire visitor side.

The game started with a bang. Mooresville won the coin toss but decided to kick off. On the kickoff, Artrelle Louis took the opening kickoff 80 plus yards for a score. The Wonders led 7-0. On our kickoff, Mooresville would return the ball to the 40 yard line. On their first play, Pinkston ran 60 yard for a Touchdown. We blocked the extra point for a 7-6 lead. I had no idea that in less than a minute, it would set the stage for the entire night.

Mooresville's Defense would stop the Wonders. Once again, Pinkston would have a 60 plus TD run, but a missed extra point would give the Devils a 12-7 lead. The Wonders would drive down the field in the second quarter and would score on a Louis TD run and a 2 point conversion. The Wonders would lead 15-12 at the half.

The second half would continue to be a see saw affair. The Devils would score first in the second half, on a very nice drive mixing the run and the pass. The Devils would score on beautiful pass play and lead 19-15. On the following kickoff, Louis returned it for 87 yards for his second return kickoff of the night. He was reminding people in the crowd of Nick Maddox, James Lott, and other Wonder greats from the past. I'm not sure if a Wonder ever has 3 return touchdown, so he probably tied a record held by a few players over the years. He would end up with 3 TD's on the night and 286 all purpose yards on the game for the Wonder Junior.

The Devils would once again score, and go up in the game 26-22. Their defense held us late in the fourth, and forced us to punt. I was getting the feeling that it would not be our night. On the punt, Mooresville fumbled the ball and we recovered around midfield. We only had a few minutes left, and Massey called a trick play. The running back ran to his right and passed the ball to the five yard line for the play of the night. The Wonders would punch it in for a 29-26 lead.

Mooresville would have one more chance, but our defense would hold with one minute to go. We ran the clock out and escaped with a big victory over Mooresville. The Wonders hit the road for our first conference game at Sun Valley Friday night. Sun Valley beat us last year, and it's going to be our first real test of the year.



Salisbury Post | SPORTS | Prep Football: A.L. Brown 29, Mooresville 26