Southwestern Randolph QB sets school record in romp over East Davidson

ASHEBORO — It may have been Week 1 of the prep football season, but Southwestern Randolph High School looked like it has been playing as one unit for an entire season.

Now they hope to continue that against Trinity at home Friday night in Week 2.

The SWR defense stymied East Davidson last Saturday and Levi Dalke set a school passing record and engineered an offense that scored 26 points in the second quarter and 38 in the first half for a 45-0 whitewash of East Davidson. 

Dalke was 14 of 16 for 298 yards and three scores, all to Kenan Sugg, as the Cougars led 12-0 after one quarter and 38-0 at halftime, which meant a running clock the entire second half.

“It was a good win, some things we need to work on, but the kids have worked hard and we felt really good about the two scrimmages we had,” veteran coach Seth Baxter said. “Anytime you get a win in Week 1, it’s big. I like the way we played, how hard we played. We made some mistakes and have room for improvement, but I was very proud of the effort.”

It would have been hard to distinguish which was more impressive: An offense that hit it stride early in the game or the defense that allowed less than 50 yards the entire contest.

On offense, Dalke’s 298 yards broke the school record of 279 set by Toby Strider in 1994. Dalke intentionally threw his first pass attempt away and then hit 14 of his next 15 attempts.

“Levi knows the offense and knows where people are supposed to be,” Baxter said. “He’s saying, ‘Coach, we’re getting this look or we’re getting that look.’ He’s telling me plays that would work against what he’s seeing. He understands the game and he threw the ball really well.”

Dalke hooked up with Sugg on a 39-yard scoring play on the Cougars’ very first drive of the game, a 7-yarder toward the end of the first quarter and a 31-yard strike late in the first half that pushed the Cougars’ lead to 38-0.

Ashter Haggerty scored a couple of touchdowns on runs of 13 and 7 yards and kicker TJ Schneider added a 24-yard field goal and was a perfect 4-for-4 in PATs.

The defense added a safety before halftime.

“Our defense flew around the ball,” Baxter said. “We have had nine or 10 of those guys start games at some point last year, so there’s a lot of experience.”

Brady Holmes added a second-half scoring run for the Cougars.

“We talked about giving a great effort today and they did,” Baxter said. 

That they did.

■ SWR honored the 2026 Hall of Fame class at halftime. The inductees included Anna Maness Sharpe, Deanna Woodall Bauer, Jimmy Walker, Jesse Varner and the state championship volleyball teams of 1991 and 1992.