The 0-11 season of 2009 for the Northern Durham Knights may feel oh-so-far removed now from their current 3-0 record in PAC-6 play and overall 4-4 record after taking down the Riverside Pirates 41-28 last Friday. This has been a team in transition and as the 2010 season progresses and wins begin to accumulate along with gutsy performances against higher level competition it appears that the future is bright for the Knights. Northern capitalized on Pirate miscues along with outstanding defensive play against Riverside's rushing attack coupled with their own success running the ball to put together the pieces necessary to be sitting in first place in conference play half-way through. The Pirates did well in the passing game, but faltered a number of times early and only late in the game began to mount an offensive push and by that time it was simply too late. The following quotes are from the voices of the PAC-6 and were included in an article from the Herald-Sun. For more information on the game follow the link provided at the end of the post.
Northern Durham head coach Anthony Sullivan commented on how it feels to be on their current winning streak. He went on to indicate that nothing has been easy, but in the end, they've gotten the W's.
"We're excited about three in a row, no doubt," Sullivan said. "We knew it had been a while since we've won three in a row." "It's not been pretty, but we'll take them any way we can get them."
For yet another week, Xavier Taylor shined for the Knights and he commented on the win and how the pieces seem to be coming together.
"It feels great," said Taylor. "It feels like we're doing everything right. This is how it is supposed to go. We were prepared well. It helped a lot to start like we did."
The Knight defense made plays all night and Anthony Burton led the defense with an interception return for a touchdown. He spoke about the defenses role in the overall game plan.
"Good defense is our main goal," Burton said. "Stopping them and getting the ball back set up our offense."
Although the Pirates moved the ball well through the air, they turned the ball over multiple times and Riverside head coach Todd Spell addressed this aspect of how the game played out.
"You can't have the turnovers in the red zone," Riverside coach Todd Spell said. "It will get you in trouble. We had our chances to make it little bit better game there in the first half, and we kind of shot ourselves in the foot."
The Pirates have found themselves behind early in a number of games this year and against Northern it was no different. Coach Spell spoke on this aspect of his team.
"I don't know what it is," Spell said. "We've fallen behind, and we've battled back."
Undefeated in conference play, the Knights have a solid opportunity to contend for the conference title as they have games against East Chapel Hill, Hillside and Southern Durham remaining. Xavier Taylor commented on where they stand and their outlook as they move forward with the remainder of the season.
"We're 3-0 in the conference and we want to keep it rolling," Taylor said.
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