By Bonitta Best

Correspondent

DURHAM – Northern Durham racked up over 400 yards of offense in a dominating 35-7 PAC-6 victory over East Chapel Hill. The win is the Knights fifth straight after going 0-2 at the beginning of the season and keeps them in a first-place tie with Durham Hillside.

“They are a very good football team,” said East Chapel Hill coach Bill Renner. “They are very physical and just wore us down.”

The Wildcats were also without starting quarterback Ben Jones for over a half. Renner said Jones broke a blood vessel in his right hand with five minutes left in the second quarter and never returned.

Northern intercepted three passes by backup quarterback Adam Bussian and turned each one into scores. The Wildcats were held to 75 total yards, including a minus-8 on the ground.

“We played better as the game went on,” Northern coach Gary Merrill said. “We have tweaked some things and fit our offense to the personnel we have.”

Northern's rushing attack generated 407 of the 423 yards. Senior running back Kylyn Flemming and senior quarterback Brandon Brown ran for 314 of those yards.

Brown got the party started by putting the Knights (5-2, 4-0) on the scoreboard with a dazzling 79-yard run on the team’s first possession of the game. Little brother Jordan Brown made it 14-0 at the half with an eight-yard scamper.

Fleming and Brown gave Northern a commanding 28-0 lead on TD runs of two and 20 yards. The Wildcats (4-3, 2-1) broke the drought when Luke Arlotto recovered a botched punt and running back Colby Owens took it in on the next play with just under eight minutes left in the game.

Northern took advantage of Bussian’s third interception with Flemming’s one-yard plunge for the final score.