West Rowan's Parks breaks Pack rusher's mark

West Rowan tailback K.P. Parks became the state's all-time leading rusher on Friday night with 244 yards in a 38-0 victory over Rutherford-Spindale Central.

Parks, a Virginia recruit, has rushed for 10,253 yards in his career. He passed Toney Baker, who had 10,241 yards at Jamestown Ragsdale before going to N.C. State.

"It really is a relief, but I was never concerned about it," Parks told the Salisbury Post after the game. "It's like I told my parents today, 'I'm not going to go into a playoff game worrying about a record.' Records are a team thing. You just do your best, you get that win and you see how the game plays out."

He came out of the game early in the fourth quarter.

Parks is No. 3 all-time in the country behind Ken Hall of Sugarland, Texas (11,232 yards), who completed his career in 1953, and Mike Hart of Nedrow Onondaga, N.Y. (11,045 yards), who finished in 2003.

Parks has the national record with 52 100-yard games. He is second in rushing attempts (1,277), third in rushing touchdowns (141) and fifth in total touchdowns (141).

West Rowan is 13-0 and has won 27 straight games.

Bosley in top 20: Ian Bosley of South Granville completed his career as No. 20 on the state's all-time rushing list.

Bosley had 191 yards in Friday's 21-20 overtime loss to Pittsboro Northwood and completed his career with 5,986 yards.

Bengals face Cougars: Fuquay-Varina coach Ryan Habich said it is no secret what his team has to do in Friday's third round 4-AA playoff game against Wake Forest-Rolesville.

"Their defense has given every team on their schedule problems," Habich said. "We have to find a way to move the ball."

No team had scored a point against Wake Forest-Rolesville when it was playing on its home field at Heritage High this season until Garner got a safety and drove for a touchdown in Friday's 42-8 win.

"It is obvious when you look at the stats, Wake Forest is outstanding on defense," said Habich, whose club stopped Southern Pines Pinecrest 41-7 on Friday. "And they wear you down offensively. They bang on you."

One key, Habich said, is avoiding turnovers. Clayton, which lost to the Cougars 55-0 in the first round, and Garner both put themselves in bad situations early with turnovers.

"Wake Forest grabbed a quick lead in both games," Habich said. "You don't want to fall far behind."

But Habich said Fuquay-Varina is playing its best football of the season in the playoffs.

The Bengals slowed down an explosive Millbrook team in a playoff-opening 27-13 win and held Pinecrest to 81 rushing yards last week.

"We're healthy again and we're playing very good defense," Habich said.

Habich said the atmosphere at Pinecrest was among the best he has ever seen. A few years ago the program was in trouble and there was talk of not fielding a varsity program. The team coached by Chris Metzger can play with the best teams in North Carolina now.

"There were thousands of spectators there," Habich said. "It was extremely loud and exciting. They have a great facility and their fans were tremendous."

Southern Durham unsure of site: Southern Durham will be the home team in Friday's 4-A third round game against New Hanover, but Spartans coach Adrian Jones is unsure where the game will be played.

"Our field won't be usable the rest of the season," Jones said. "We'll play here, just not on campus."

He hopes the game can be played at N.C. Central.

New Hanover has a strong defensive club. The 23 points it allowed in last week's 26-23 double overtime win against Fayetteville Pine Forest is the most points New Hanover has allowed in a game this year.

The 10-3 Wildcats have allowed 145 points (11.2 points per game) and have held nine opponents to two touchdowns or less.

Jones said Southern Durham will need to avoid turnovers, create turnovers and maintain good field position.

"Field position is a key for us," Jones said. "It is a lot easier to score from their 40 or from near midfield than it is to score from your 20."

Jones said the emphasis on field position is a basic tenet of the program

"We don't do crazy things in the kicking game," he said. "We want to kick the ball deep and play good defense."

Jones said another key has been his club's defensive preparation. He credits defensive coordinator Darin Hart with having the defense prepared for each game.

"In the games, our guys are coaching each other because they know what they are supposed to be doing," Jones said.

Southern Durham is averaging 28.5 points per game.

New territory: Cardinal Gibbons (12-1), which plays at home against Eastern Alamance (12-1), is in new territory this season.

The program had never won a second-round game and it has never gone undefeated at home for a regular season. The Crusaders' 12 wins is a school record and so is its 10-game winning streak.

Eastern Alamance's only loss was 24-23 to undefeated Northern Guilford.

Another traditional power: South Johnston (12-1) is certainly having to prove its mettle in the 3-AA playoffs.

Last week, the Trojans defeated traditional power Rocky Mount 35-18. On Friday, the Trojans are at home against Fayetteville Byrd (9-4), one of the most storied programs in the state's history.

Case for expanded playoffs: Every year there are complaints about too many teams making the playoffs. The counter argument is Rocky Point Heide Trask, the No. 14 seed in the 1-AA East.

Trask entered the playoffs with a 4-7 record but has defeated third-ranked East Columbus 13-9 and No. 11 seeded Gates County 42-14.

Trask plays at Goldsboro (11-2) on Friday.

Only 11 of the 16 top-seeded teams have advanced to the third round.

On the other hand, only eight of the surviving 32 teams were seeded lower than No. 8.

Showcase games: A couple of third-round games pop out as extra special.

Charlotte Independence (12-1) plays at Richmond County (12-1) in a 4-AA West matchup and high-scoring Reidsville (13-0) is at SouthWest Edgecombe (13-0).

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