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GREENSBORO - When Dudley needed one yard Friday, it got three. When it needed a first down, it got a touchdown.

And as Page handed over chance after chance after chance, the Panthers turned the screws, grinding out a 28-21 victory and erasing any doubt about who the area's best team is at this point of the season.

"I told them the team with the most heart would win tonight," said Dudley coach Stephen Davis, who has yet to lose to his former school. "We gave up some big plays, but when it came down to it, we did what we needed."

The Panthers flattened yet another team on the ground, rolling up 260 rushing yards and getting two touchdowns from quarterback Ricky Lewis Jr. (80 yards on 15 carries) and another from J.R. Peterson (90 on 15).

"They're the best running football team we've seen so far," Page head coach Kevin Gillespie said, "and it ain't close."

But the Panthers led by only a touchdown with six minutes left, and Page was in line for the ball as Dudley lined up to punt on 4th-and-1 from its own 28. But the Pirates, who had already been burned for a 29-yard fake punt earlier in the game, were called for 12 men on the field as they scrambled to figure out a game plan.

Dudley killed 2 more minutes off the clock, and Page's final drive fizzled without a first down.

It was the second straight week Page came up a touchdown short against an undefeated team, having fallen 21-14 to Ragsdale last Friday.

"We're not converting and it's frustrating," Gillespie said. "We've got to find some way to make plays when we need to."

It was a perfect night for football, but the two teams played like they were in the middle of Hurricane Ike. They combined for seven fumbles, five of which changed hands. Dudley scored off two of those in the first half, sprinting to a 21-7 lead after Page scored on its opening drive.

The biggest blow came on Dudley's final score of the half, when the Panthers failed to convert a fake punt from the Page 47 midway through second quarter but got the ball back on the next play after the Pirates fumbled a handoff. Lewis then found Rakeem Overby for a 34-yard touchdown on fourth-and-7.

Page responded with just over a minute left in the half when Will Newman found Brad Workinger over the middle for a five-yard score, his second of the game.

Newman finished 16-of-25 for 174 yards had added a third touchdown pass to Colin Daly in the fourth quarter.

But Dudley stretched its lead back to 14 when Peterson scampered in from 9 yards out on the opening possession of the second half, and the Pirates let several chances at a knockout punch slip away.

Perhaps it's too early for Dudley to breathe a sigh of relief, but the Panthers have emerged unscathed from a non-conference schedule that also featured perennial 4-A powers Grimsley, Richmond County and Carver.

Davis and his staff told themselves it they were 4-1 at this point of the season, it'd be an accomplishment.

"Yeah," he said with a smile, "5-0 is good, too."

Contact Tom Keller at 373-7034 or tom.keller@news-record.com

P - Brad Workinger 9 pass from Will Newman (Matt Millisor kick)

D - Ricky Lewis Jr. 1 run (Lewis kick blocked)

D - Lewis 37 run (Tayshaun Lowe pass from Lewis)

D - Rakeem Overby 34 pass from Lewis (pass failed)

P - Workinger 5 pass from Newman (Millisor kick)

D - J.R. Peterson 9 run (Lowe pass from Lewis)

P - Colin Daly 5 pass from Newman (Millisor kick)