The Northridge Jaguars (5-0, 3-0) took care of business Friday night against the Brookwood Panthers (0-5, 0-3) with the help of their potent running attack. 

The Jaguars had four different ball carriers with touchdowns on their way to the 45-16 rout, including junior LiEric Street who contributed 130 yards and a touchdown.  

For Brookwood, the Panthers seemed to have an equally impressive running game behind the efforts of running backs CJ Cummings and Jake Smithson, who combined for 156 yards rushing and a touchdown. Brookwood even had a chance to cut Northridge’s lead to one score before the half, however stalled drives, failed red zone attempts and late penalties cost the Panthers points and led to the final result. 

“Cummings ran the ball extremely hard from our fullback position and our offensive lineman are starting to understand what we are trying to get done,” Brookwood head coach Mike Bramblett said. “We are still in the building faze, and we are not happy with any loss but I’m trying to get them to understand that we were close, but didn’t get it done.” 

Northridge found the end zone a little over a minute into the first quarter on a two yard rushing score from Street.  After a Brookwood drive that stalled in Northridge territory, the Jaguars capitalized on a 15-yard passing TD from quarterback Kollyn Shellnut to wide receiver Christopher Jack to make it 14-0 Northridge to end the first quarter.

Brookwood started the second quarter with a long, methodical rushing drive that ended in a Smithson five yard rushing touchdown and a successful two-point conversion bringing the score to 14-8. The Jaguars answered almost immediately, with a quick drive and a one-yard Simeon Houston touchdown that took only 30 seconds off the clock.

Brookwood had an opportunity in Jags territory, but stalled once again. Northridge then executed a solid two-minute offense and kicker Aileen Charles knocked in a 36-yard field goal to bring the total to 24-8 at the half. 

Northridge opened the third quarter with a quarterback change, bringing in Taylor Halperin who ran the ball in from 10 yards out to put the Jags up 31-8. The score remained the same until the 4th quarter, where Brookwood quarterback Kobe Humphries found wide receiver Clayton Godsey for an 8-yard touchdown.

With the score 31-16, The momentum seemed to shift in a huge way for Brookwood when they converted the two point attempt and successfully recovered an onside kick. Unfortunately for the Panthers, penalties would kill the free drive and yield them nothing. Two late Tyler Eatmon touchdowns later for Northridge, and the game was all but decided at 45-16.

Northridge now turns their attention to a huge matchup with the Gordo Green Wave in a battle of undefeated teams. 

“Gordo is a great, storied program, Coach Lolley does a wonderful job there. I don’t know if Northridge has played Gordo, if they have it’s been a long time. So it should be a fun night down there next week.” Northridge head coach Mike Vickery said. 

Brookwood now looks to earn its first win of the season next week when they host Sipsey Valley.

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