The consensus held that Chapel Hill was a ground-control team lacking a big-play threat that could stretch the field vertically. In sputtering to a 1-4 start, the Tigers scored just five touchdowns in their first four games.

Carrboro's high-octane spread offense, paced by junior quarterback Derek Bryant (989 passing yards and 10 touchdowns through four games), was diametrically opposed to Chapel Hill's style. The Jaguars averaged 31 points per game over the course of a 2-2 start, the best in the school's three-year history.

So, what happened when the two sides met Friday? Chapel Hill suddenly found playmakers offensively. And, just as importantly, defensively.

Quarterback Winston Washington ran up a career-high 139 rushing yards and a touchdown, while backup quarterback Stephen Winsor threw for two touchdowns, as the Tigers pulled away for a 35-14 win over Carrboro.

Chapel Hill (2-4), which defeated cross-town rival East Chapel Hill 14-7 one week before for the sixth consecutive year, also received a career-high 94 yards rushing from junior tailback Daniel Watson.

"I can't just say one or two guys played well tonight, " said Chapel Hill Coach Issac Marsh, whose team ended a three-game home losing streak. "Everybody played well. I thought the whole team and the coaches prepared well for tonight's game."

"We've got a long way to go, " said Carrboro Coach Jason Tudryn. "Congratulations to Chapel Hill, they did a great job up front on both sides of the ball. We've got to learn how to deal with a little bit of adversity. Our kids have phenomenal character, so they'll bounce back from this."

Carrboro (2-3), with a week off after its' first-ever victory over East Chapel Hill on Sept. 11, struggled to find an offensive flow beyond Brooks' passing. Chapel Hill's larger defensive line held the Jaguars to 40 yards rushing. Brooks was sacked four times, twice by senior defensive end Davon Southerland.

Having captured two home victories for the first time in Carrboro High history, and with a playoff berth in their sights, the Jaguars would have seemed favored against the school where it picked up many of its players when redistricting was imposed. But Chapel Hill grabbed the momentum early when Washington scored on a 58-yard keeper around right end on the Tigers' first play from scrimmage.

"I thought Winston and the rest of the guys played well as a unit, " Marsh said. "That's the important thing. We want to make plays together. Without the offensive line and the rest of the guys, none of it would have been possible."

The big plays continued on Chapel Hill's second drive. After Watson converted a third-down with a 21-yard gain, senior wide receiver Russell Suitt caught a 49-yard touchdown pass from Wisnor with 2:06 remaining in the first quarter. Andrew Dejong's extra point gave CHHS a 14-0 lead.

Carrboro's lone first half touchdown came when Bryant found junior wide receiver Nassar Omar on a 48-yard bomb down the right sideline to cut the Tiger lead in half. Suitt answered with a 59-yard return of the ensuing kickoff, and fullback Evan Jones punched the ball in for a touchdown five plays later to give CHHS a 21-7 halftime lead.

"Russell is one of the guys we've been trying to get make plays all season long, " said Marsh. "He's started to come into his own the last couple of weeks. We just want to keep things going."

Chapel Hill's Kyle Duffy returned the opening kickoff of the second half 37 yards to start another drive in Carrboro real estate. Later, Duffy would finish the drive with a three-yard touchdown catch from Wisnor.

While a steady mist that fell intermittently on Friday may have stalled Carrboro's air-oriented offense to a season-low 328 yards, in reality the Chapel Hill defense had much more to do with it. Jones, Daquan Hayes and Phillip Kitchen all registered sacks in the game.

"We have to block and tackle better, " said Tudryn. "That's the bottom line. We got beat up front. That's how simple this game is. We've got to tie our shoes back on Monday. The sun will come up tomorrow and we have to get ready for Reagan (next week in Winston-Salem)."

CHAPEL HILL 35, CARRBORO 7

Friday, Sept. 25, at Culton-Peerman Stadium

CH--Winston Washington 58 run (Andrew Dejong kick); CH--Russell Suitt 49 pass from Stephen Winsor (Dejong kick); CAR--Nassar Omar 48 pass from Derek Bryant (Samuel Cooper kick); CH--Evan Jones 1 run (Dejong kick); CH--Kyle Duffy 3 pass from Winsor (Dejong kick); CH--Daniel Watson 1 run (Dejong kick); CAR--Omar 6 pass from Bryant (Cooper kick).

Individual Statistics

RUSHING: CAR --Bryant 9-21, Torrell Farrar 7-17, Douglas Parrish 2-5, Omar 2-0, Talibdeen McLain 1-0, DeAndre White 2-(-3); CHHS -- Washington 11-139 TD, Watson 14-94 TD, Jones 4-1, Winsor 3-(-6).

Passing: CAR -- D.Bryant 20-37-288-0 (2 TD) CHHS -- S.Winsor 6-10-111-0 (2 TD), W.Washington 2-4-40-0.

Receiving: CARR -- Omar 7-118 (2 TD), Andy Knapp 6-96, Farrar 3-24, Parrish 2-20, Dylan Arant 1-16, McLain 1-14; CHHS -- Suitt 3-90 (TD), Duffy 2-16 (TD), Watson 1-33, Eddie Bugard 1-9, Jones 1-3.

Falcons open PAC-6 play with win at East

CHAPEL HILL Jordan seized upon Wildcat mistakes and recorded two safeties to open its Piedmont Athletic Conference schedule with a 32-0 win on a misty, chilly Friday night at East Chapel Hill.

"Any win is good, especially a win in your first conference game," Jordan head coach Mike Briggs said. "Saturday morning, there'll be 3-4 teams all jumbled together at the top of the conference standings, and we're one of them."

Jordan (4-2) stunned East Chapel Hill (0-6) with 9 points just 10 seconds apart to take a 16-0 lead into halftime. One play after East's Mark Farrish was tackled in the end zone, T.J. Thorpe returned the ensuing free punt 65 yards for a touchdown with 1:50 left in the half.

Jordan got touchdowns on runs of 13 yards by Afam Nwogalanya, 8 by Bradley Sherrod and 1 by Julius Belton, the cousin of former East Chapel Hill and Wake Forest University running back Rich Belton.

Belton's touchdown capped the opening drive of the second half, which Jordan took 81 yards in 12 plays to go up 23-0 with 19:11 to play.

"I liked what I saw at the start of the second half," Briggs said. "We came out and did some things we hadn't been doing too well; we came out with some enthusiasm and moved the ball down the filed."

Jordan's first safety came one play after the Falcons downed a punt at the East Chapel Hill 1-yard line. The Falcons forced a second safety three plays after the Wildcats inadvertently touched a punt and had to jump on it at their own 5-yard line.

Farrish, with two good runs late, ended up as the game's top rusher, getting 66 yards on 16 carries. East sophomore Drew Davis, fighting off the flu and playing barely three quarters, completed his first three passes for 22 yards, all to Thomas Moore, but ended up 5-for-10 as he was forced to scramble across the wet sod more and more as the game wore on.

Jordan junior quarterback Sam Selig threw judiciously and completed 11 of 16 passes for 66 yards. Josh Williams had eight carries for team-high 51 yards for Jordan, which used 10 different running backs.

-- W.E. WARNOCK

JORDAN 32, EAST CHAPEL HILL 0

Friday, Sept. 25, at Wildcat Stadium

Scoring Summary

JOR - Afam Nwogalanya 13 run (Rex Downey kick); JOR -- safety; JOR -- T.J. Thorpe 65 punt return (R.Downey kick); JOR - Julius .Belton 1 run (R.Downey kick); JOR - Brad Sherrod 8 run (R.Downey kick).

Individual Statistics

Rushing: JOR--Josh Williams 8-51, A.Nwogalanya 11-48, J.Belton 5-33, Sam Selig 2-13, Charles Williams 3-9, Tony Mangili 1-4, Devin McNeill 1-3, Nate Evans 3-3, Jeron Peoples 1-(-3), T.J.Thorpe 2-(-5); ECH--Mark Farrish 16-66, Aquez Willis 8-29, Thomas Moore 1-2, Drew Davis 5-(-13).

Passing: JOR--S.Selig 11-16-66-0; ECH-- D.Davis 5-10-41-0, A.Moore 0-3-0-0.

Receiving: JOR--J. Williams 0-18-0, Darren Bullock 0-12-0, T. J.Thorpe 0-4-0; ECH--T.Moore 3-23-0, A.Willis 2-18-0.

Cardinal Gibbons readies for Chapel Hill

RALEIGH Cardinal Gibbons finished strong Friday night and used two fourth-quarter TDs by Doug Burton to down Cedar Ridge 20-7 and move to 5-1, the best overall record of any Carolina-Six Conference as league play approaches this week.

Cedar Ridge, which was deadlocked 7-7 at halftime after a 43-yard pass from Caleb Goodnight to Josh Pappas, saw a four-game win streak snapped as the Red Wolves dropped to 4-2.

In a game with major implications for the inaugural Carolina-Six title race, the Crusaders play at Chapel Hill on Oct. 9, following an open date this Friday for both teams.

-- W.E. WARNOCK

CARDINAL GIBBONS 20, CEDAR RIDGE 7

Friday, Sept. 25, at Raleigh

Scoring Summary

CGB -- A.Donnald 1 run (D.Burton kick); CDR -- J.Pappas 43 pass from C.Goodnight (C.Hooker kick); CGB -- D.Burton 16 run (D.Burton kick); CGB -- D.Burton 16 run (D.Burton kick failed).

Individual Statistics

Rushing: CDR--B.Burnette 13-29, J.Geary 4-9, C.Hooker 1-2, Coleman 5-2, C.Pappas 1-0, C.Goodnight 2-(-9); CGB--A.Donnald 25-97, D.Burton 8-41, T.Buckley 5-9, E.Albright 2-2, B.Grazen 7-(-1), M.Koch 1-(-7).

Passing: CDR--C.Pappas 1-4-(-7)-0, C.Goodnight 4-4-69-0; CGB--D.Burton 6-13-112-0.

Receiving: CDR--J.Pappas 0-57-1, T.Watkins 0-12-0, B.Burnette 0-(-7)-0; CGB--T.Buckley 3-81-0, A.Shafer 2-23-0.

Orange wins the battle of Panthers

HILLSBOROUGH Drevis Torain ran for touchdowns of 33 and 20 yards, and Freddie Blanks passed for TDs on throws of 23 yards to Jamaal Owens and 23 to Donovam McCulley to lead Orange in a 61-0 rout Friday of Granville Central.

The score marked the largest margin of defeat for Granville Central (0-6), whose Panthers are in just their second year of varsity competition. It was also the biggest margin of victory for Orange (2-3) since the OHS Panthers defeated Carrboro 82-19 in Hillsborough on Sept. 7, 2007, in what was the Jaguars' fourth varsity game ever.

ORANGE 61, GRANVILLE CENTRAL 0

Friday, Sept. 25, at Auman Stadium

Scoring Summary

ORA--N.Shriner 40 run (kick failed); ORA--D.Torain 20 run (C.Kileen kick); ORA--F.Blanks 1 run (C.Kileen kick); ORA--J.Owens 23 pass from F.Blanks (C.Kileen kick); ORA--T.Jones 12 run (C.Kileen kick); ORA--D.Torain 33 run (C.Kileen kick); ORA--D.McCulley 23 pass from F.Blanks (kick failed); ORA--L.Evan 76 run (C.Kileen kick); ORA--M.Williams 1 run (C.Kileen kick).

Individual Statistics

Rushing: GRV--J.Bryson 14-85, K.Walls 11-27, B.Ray 3-14, T.Parrott 6-10, A.Edwards 1-2, B.Lickliter 2-(-6); ORA--N.Shriner 5-87, D.Torain 5-82, L.Evan 1-76, T.Jones 6-32, M.Williams 8-32, F.Blanks 2-(-1).

Pass ing: GRV--B.Lickliter 0-2-0-0; ORA--F.Blanks 5-9-94-2.

Receiving: GRV--none; ORA--D.McCulley 3-57-1, J.Owens 1-23-1, N.Shriner 1-14-0.

Chargers rally to top Erwin Triton

PITTSBORO Sam Griffin threw an 18-yard touchdown pass to A.J. Farmer and then a two-point conversion pass to Austin Matthews to complete a fourth-quarter comeback for undefeated Northwood in a 22-15 win Friday over Erwin Triton.

The Chargers (6-0) trailed 15-0 in the third quarter before former Smith Cyclone Shannon Peppers rambled 73 yards with a pass from Griffin to get Northwood on the board, and Peppers scored again early in the fourth quarter on a two-yard dive to get Northwood within 15-14.

With its first loss in four games, Triton fell to 4-2.

NORTHWOOD 22, TRITON 15

Scoring Summary

TRI--K.Warren 50 run (S.Jackson pass from D.Smith); TRI--K.Warren 17 run (N.Glover kick); NWD--S.Peppers 73 pass from S.Griffin (H.Baldwin pass from S.Griffin); NWD--S.Peppers 2 run (kick failed); NWD--A.Farmer 18 pass from S.Griffin (A.Mathews pass from S.Griffin).

Individual Statistics

Rushing: TRI--K.Warren 24-170, M.King 19-65, R.McNeil 2-10, D.Smith 4-(-1), M.Hayes 2-(-18); NWD--S.Peppers 23-162, A.Mathews 1-3, H.Baldwin 1-(-4), T.Chandler 3-(-9), S.Griffin 5-(-23).

Passing: TRI--n/a. NWD--H.Baldwin 1-2-9-0, S.Griffin 7-16-198-2.

Receiving: TRI--K.Warren 2-28-0; NWD--A.Farmer 2-90-1, S.Peppers 1-73-1, R.Smith 2-44-0, H.Baldwin 1-27-0, B.Dibernard 1-9-0.