People showed up in reasonable numbers Friday night, cheering on both Chapel Hill High School and East Chapel Hill High as they played their annual football game for the Hodgin Cup.

The total number might have been slightly off from years past, but there were still plenty of fans on hand at CHHS for both sides.

The student section cheered heartily throughout the night for the Tigers. The teams played hard, and both sides appeared to be within the vein of good sportsmanship throughout the evening, even though Chapel Hill dominated the game in every fashion.

CHHS knelt down in the final moments rather than score an unnecessary touchdown that it easily could have had after blocking a punt for the second time in the game.

The Tigers won 37-0, their size and number of athletes overwhelming an undermanned East Chapel Hill team. The Wildcats, despite an obvious disadvantage, clearly played with all the effort and heart they could muster.

Still, an eerie cloud hung over the game, a sense that this was not the same as usual.

Some students in the stands wore T-shirts honoring and recalling former Chapel Hill player Atlas Fraley, who died unexpectedly at just 17 years old on Aug. 12.

The Tigers wear his number on their helmets in his memory. A large '90' is painted over midfield, where most schools would have a mascot or team name.

"Everything we do is for number 90," Chapel Hill running back Steven Moore said. "We beat East, it was mainly for 'A.T.' It's real big (overall), but it's big for him, too."

Former CHHS coach and former East Chapel director of athletics, Bill Hodgin, who presented the Hodgin Cup, named for him and presented by the Chapel Hill News as an annual reward for the winner of this game, spoke of the tragedy that trails the Tigers throughout this season.

"Ya'll have suffered through some things hopefully not too many teams have to suffer," Coach Hodgin said. "It's a credit to you, your coaching staff and the students for how you have handled this. ... Just remember that when you wear the black and gold you represent more than yourselves. You represent the students, your school and your community."

This year they also represent a young man who died, unexpectedly and still inexplicably.

Quarterback John Haus, Moore, Jared McAdoo and many, many others deserve to be recognized for their strong effort in this game.

Moore had a 70-yard touchdown run called back for a personal foul. He still gave a super performance, pounding on the out-manned Wildcats throughout the evening.

Moore is 6 feet 1, 230 pounds, and his natural position is linebacker. He says he runs about a 4.66-second time in the 40-yard dash, which is not blazing for a running back but is an excellent time for a linebacker.

His football speed versus his stopwatch speed appears to be just fine. When he burst through the line, he could quickly race past the entire East Chapel Hill defense, which itself has some fine athletes.

The Tigers needed him at running back, so he did what was best for the team by moving from his natural position. He is doing it quite well, thank you.

"Steven Moore has been an outstanding runner for us," Coach Issac Marsh of CHHS said. "I wish I could play him more on defense, but he's about 75 percent of our offense. We converted him from linebacker to our starting tailback, and he has done a wonderful job.

"I look at him, and he is very emotional. 'Coach, give me the ball. I want the ball. Let me get to carry it.' I know he is going to do wonderful things when he gets his touches."

The fact is, with CHHS' huge offensive line (the Tigers may have the best offensive tackle in North Carolina in junior Rob Crisp, who stands a muscular 6-8, 305 pounds with long, powerful arms), the Tigers could have run the ball on every possession and probably scored even more points and simply pounded the Wildcats into the turf.

But in fairness to Coach Marsh, Haus and his receivers appear to have the talent to add another dimension to this team, particularly given the effectiveness of the CHHS running game. This could be important as the season progresses and the competition stiffens. So, they have to throw the ball more.

Defensively, CHHS has plenty of athletes who can make a difference as well.

McAdoo, who's committed to UNC and Coach Butch Davis, is a powerful defensive lineman who doubles on the offensive line at times.

McAdoo had a couple of sacks, knocked down a pass at the line of scrimmage and blocked a second-quarter punt that went for a Tiger touchdown.

"I feel good with the chemistry we have," McAdoo. "We're coming together now. We're going every day with each other."

McAdoo was especially pleased with the shutout.

"The past few games," he said, "we have shut out teams in the first half and they came back and scored. This time we closed it out. We had a shutout, and it feels great."

Understandably, it has taken time for this team to recover enough from Fraley's shocking death after a summer scrimmage to find itself and start to realize its potential.

And the potential is big. Crisp and McAdoo are just two of the possible Division I prospects playing for the Tigers.

CHHS is huge in numbers, athleticism and size, a glaring disparity in comparison to East Chapel Hill, which has some skill athletes, but overall continues to trail Chapel Hill in the commitment from the student body to playing the game.

Enough athletes walk the hallways at East (which has produced state champions in lacrosse and rugby in recent years) to make the football team deeper and more competitive, but too many of them are missing on the practice field or in uniform at games each Friday night.

Whereas at Chapel Hill, there is one child in particular who is missing, one who would have loved to be at a practice or a game, helping his teammates win. It is to the credit of those other young men and their coaches that they have found the strength to move forward and develop as a team.

Even more so, it is to their credit that they carry the memory of their dear friend and teammate with them always. Somebody at every game is carrying Atlas Fraley's jersey on the sideline.

Let us hope that in some small way their dedication to Fraley's memory will provide some sliver of comfort to the ones who suffer the most after this horrible tragedy: Fraley's family.

God bless them and help them as they try to survive this painful example of how cruel life can be.