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Third-year Clarksburg football coach Larry Hurd was a little worried going into Friday's clash at Montgomery 2A/1A Division foe Northwood.

He was afraid his charges' minds would be on next week's highly anticipated home matchup against Class 4A Wootton, which the Coyotes beat in a tight 13-7 battle en route to last year's 12-1, state-semifinal run, rather than the task at hand.

But Hurd had nothing to worry about. Senior running back Mark Small scored on a 40-yard touchdown run on the game's opening play and Cody Martin completed 6 of 8 pass attempts for 293 yards and five touchdowns in the first half alone to give the Coyotes (3-0) a 41-0 halftime lead en route to a 48-6 win.

"They just had way too many big plays," Northwood coach Dennis Harris said. "They had four or five plays that were for 50 yards or more. The game was over about midway through the second quarter."

The Coyotes seem to have picked right up where they left off in 2007. Friday's performance exemplified the type of balanced attack that's helped them outscore their opponents 81-13 in three games.

Northwood (0-3) hasn't gotten off the start it had hoped for this fall. The Gladiators have been able to move the ball, mostly through the air. Senior quarterback Jimmy Hessler completed 21 of 34 for 232 yards Friday and has thrown for 713 total yards in 2008. But the Gladiators have been outscored, 129-36.

"There's always next week," Harris said. "The kids understand the season isn't over. We played three very tough teams to start the season."