When the East Chapel Hill class of 2010 turns their tassels in eight months for graduation at the Smith Center, they won't have a state championship in football upon which to hang their caps, but they'll always have special memories of Homecoming.

For years to come, when the 13 Wildcat seniors gather at parties, or reunions or at another football game, the enduring memory of Homecoming 2009 will be Thomas Moore riding the shoulders of his fellow students during a hero's ride off the field. Moore waited four years for that moment, his first home win as an East football player.

It was well worth the wait.

Moore drilled a 50-yard field goal with 15 seconds remaining, and room to spare above the cross-bar, to cap an improbable rally as the Wildcats defeated Northern Durham 24-21 Friday night at Wildcat Stadium.

The victory ended East's 24-game losing streak, and was their first win at home since Aug. 26, 2005, also a span of 24 games.

"I'm speechless," said East Coach Darian Harris, who always boasted to his team he was too fast to have a Gatorade cooler dumped on him. His soaked sweatshirt afterwards proved he was wrong.

"Thomas is an amazing person," said Harris. "Words can't describe his effort or his ability. I'm just happy he's on this team and that I've had the opportunity to coach him these last couple of years."

"This feels so good," said Moore, who has played on the varsity since he was a freshman. "This is like the best situation ever. I never thought I'd see something like this."

If ever there was a time where weeks of practice foreshadowed in-game heroics, this was it. Every Thursday, Harris ends practice by having Moore attempt a field goal to win a mythical game. This week, Moore's practice game-winner was from 42 yards.

On Friday night, Moore's real-life field goal came after a 55-yard attempt fell short. But Northern was called for running into the kicker. Pressed with a 4-and-1 from the Knights' 33-yard line with :20 remaining, Harris never thought twice.

"I just wanted one more chance to make it happen, " said Moore, carrying a sledge hammer awarded by defensive coordinator James Lillie Jr. as top defensive player. "There was no doubt I made it."

"I have the utmost belief in Thomas Moore to do anything we ask him to do," said Harris.

As fate would have it, East's last victory came against Riverside by the identical 24-21 score on Sept. 21, 2007. On that night, the game tone's changed because of six Riverside turnovers.

On Friday night, it turned on a blatant display of disrespect.

Leading 21-7 with 8:32 remaining in the third quarter, Northern faced a fourth-and-five from their OWN 41 yard line---and went for it. Wide receiver Anthony Burton promptly dropped a pass from quarterback Andy Henry, but the very idea of the Knights' risking the field position with a 14-point lead was a clear insult that the East defense took to heart.

"That's exactly how we took it," said Harris. "We communicated that to our guys. That was a smack in the face and a sign of disrespect. The kids responded to that challenge."

A comeback was spawned. East, with its fourth drive starting in Northern territory, didn't blow the opportunity. Quarterback Drew Davis hit wide receiver Aquez Willis with a 25-yard touchdown pass with 2:15 remaining in the third quarter to whittle the Northern advantage to 21-14.

Moore killed the next Northern drive with an interception early in the fourth quarter. Davis converted third down passes to Willis and Moore, leading to Mark Farrish's seven-yard touchdown run to tie the game.

Northern went three-and-out on the following drive, leading to Moore's unforgettable heroics.

East created a turnover on Northern's first play from scrimmage when linebacker Jonte Armstrong knocked the ball away from Henry, and Eric Vredenburgh recovered. Willis raced in for a 15-yard touchdown run to give East the initial touchdown of the game.

Northern responded with 21 points in the second quarter. Running back Xavier Taylor started with a seven-yard touchdown run to tie the game 7-7.

With 5:05 remaining in the first half, Northern punter Pierce Hoover fell on a bad snap at his own 5-yard line, which appeared to set up East taking the lead. Instead, it was the start of something big for Northern, as cornerback DeAndre Melvin picked off a Davis pass in the end zone and raced 53 yards into East territory, leading to Henry's six-yard touchdown pass to Nick Warren. With 0:14 remaining in the first half, Henry would hook up with Warren again for another touchdown to give Northern a 21-7 halftime lead.

For Harris and his staff, Friday night was a long time coming. While Northern (0-8) is far from the state-championship heights they reached in the early 90's, they're still Northern.

It's a team that Harris and many of his assistants never defeated when they played at Hillside during the 1990s, often with the PAC-6 championship on the line.

"I'm speechless," Harris said again.

NDR	0	21	0	0	--	21
ECH	7	0	7	10	--	24

	NDR	ECH
Rushes-Yards	28-119	31-66
Comp-Att-Yards	17-26-178	11-19-124

ECH--A.Willis 15 run (T.Moore kick); NDR--X.Taylor 4 run (P.Hoover kick); NDR--N.Warren 6 pass from A.Henry (P.Hoover kick); ECH--A.Willis 25 pass from D.Davis (T.Moore kick); ECH--M.Farrish 6 run (T.Moore kick); NDR--N.Warren 9 pass from A.Henry (P.Hoover kick); ECH--T.Moore 50 FG.

Rushing: NDR--X.Taylor 17-116, C.Edwards 2-13, A.Henry 8-7, P.Hoover 1-(-17); ECH--A.Willis 4-35, M.Farrish 16-23, T.Moore 1-7, A.Moore 1-2, D.Davis 8-0, C.McGuffin 1-(-1).

Passing: NDR--A.Henry 17-28-178-2; ECH--D.Davis 11-19-124-2.

Receiving: NDR--C.Edwards 7-71-0, A.Burton 5-59-0, N.Warren 3-28-2; Carver 1-10, Taylor 1-0, ECH--T.Moore 4-59-0, A.Willis 6-55-2, T.Meyer 1-10.

Northwood 62, Carrboro 34

At Carrboro, the Jaguars (3-5) couldn't contain former Smith Cyclone Shannon Peppers, who romped for 414 yards and seven TDs on 28 carries for undefeated Northwood (9-0).

NWD	6	21	14	21	--	62
CAR	6	7	14	7	--	34

NWD -- S.Peppers 55 run (J.Pena kick failed); CAR -- T.Farrar 13 pass from D.Bryant (S.Cooper kick failed); NWD -- S.Peppers 5 run (J.Pena kick); NWD -- S.Griffin 11 run (J.Pena kick); CAR -- A.Knapp 8 pass from D.Bryant (S.Cooper kick); NWD -- S.Peppers 66 run (J.Pena kick); CAR -- D.Bryant 3 run (S.Cooper kick); NWD -- S.Peppers 64 run (J.Pena kick); CAR -- D.White 3 run (S.Cooper kick); NWD -- S.Peppers 51 run (J.Pena kick); NWD -- S.Peppers 40 run (J.Pena kick); NWD -- R.Smith 42 (J.Pena kick); NWD -- S.Peppers 1 run (J.Pena kick).

Rushing: NWD--S.Peppers 28-414, S.Griffin 7-36, R.Smith 1-13, H.Baldwin 1-3, A.Mathews 1-2; CAR--D.Bryant 12-33, T.Farrar 5-21, D.White 2-3, D.Parrish 2-1, D.Austin 1-0.

Passing: NWD--S.Griffin 5-14-86-0; CAR--D.Bryant 26-52-345-0.

Receiving: NWD--R.Smith 0-53-0, H.Baldwin 0-22-0, A.Farmer 0-11-0; CAR--A.Knapp 9-130-0, J.Chavarriaga 7-101-0, D.Austin 6-74-0, D.Parrish 2-27-0, T.Farrar 1-13-1.

Cedar Ridge 42, Granville Central 0

At Stem, Cedar Ridge (6-2) prepped for next week's Carolina-9 game with Carrboro by pounding Granville Central (0-8).

CED	0	28	7	7	--	42
GRV	0	0	0	0	--	0

CED--J.Geary 1 run (H.Moran kick); CED--J.Pappas 35 interception return (H.Moran kick); CED--P.Chalmers 3 run (H.Moran kick); CED--J.Evarts 9 pass from C.Pappas (H.Moran kick); CED--B.Burnette 6 run (H.Moran kick); CED--P.Chalmers 30 run (H.Moran kick).

Rushing: CED--B.Burnette 13-96, P.Chalmers 8-77, Coleman 3-41, T.Watkins 1-28, C.Pappas 5-16, J.Geary 1-1; GRV--J.Bryson 19-39, K.Walls 5-13, T.Parrott 3-8, A.Edwards 1-2, K.Lindsey 1-1, B.Lickliter 5-(-9).

Passing: CED--C.Pappas 3-7-33-1, C.Goodnight 2-5-17-0; GRV--B.Lickliter 3-13-66-0.

Receiving: CED--J.Pappas 0-19-0, B.Burnette 0-16-0, J.Evarts 0-9-1, Coleman 0-6-0; GRV--D.Chavis 2-43-0, A.Edwards 1-23-0.