Durham Hillside shook off a sluggish first half to dominate Durham Riverside in a 57-10 PAC-6 high school football win on Friday night. The victory is the Hornets’ fifth straight and they remain in first place in the conference, while the Pirates are still looking for their first league win.

By Bonitta Best

Correspondent

DURHAM -- Durham Hillside shook off a sluggish first half to dominate Durham Riverside in a 57-10 PAC-6 Friday night win. The victory is the Hornets’ fifth straight and they remain in first place, while the Pirates are still looking for their first conference win.

After rushing for just 57 yards in the first half, Hillside running back and UNC recruit Khris Francis turned on the jets to finish with 135 yards and four touchdowns.

“I’m just happy for our seniors,” Hillside coach Antonio King said. “They have 42 wins (42-8) and are steady rolling. “

The Pirates took the early lead on kicker Alex Brese’s 30-yard field goal. But the Hornets roared right back, driving 59 yards on 12 plays that culminated in a Cinco Simmons to Jordan Russell 19-yard connection for a 6-3 lead after the missed PAT. Hillside made it 14-3 on another long drive that Francis finished from the 1.

The second half was all Hornets.

Hillside, or rather Francis, scored on the first two possessions on runs of 13 yards and 31 yards to go up 28-3. The defense then got into the picture when running back Robert Traynham intercepted Riverside quarterback Jonathan Deluca and returned the ball 13 yards for a 36-3 lead.

“Mental mistakes cost us in the first half, but the defense came out and got us fired us,” Francis said. “They had some big hits, really big hits.”

Hillside’s defense held Riverside to 144 total yards – all on the ground. Linebacker Dwight Campbell was a beast, at one point sacking the quarterback on three straight possessions.

“We are slowly getting into form,” King said.