FUQUAY-VARINA - Senior Tyson Fernandez and the rest of the Fuquay-Varina offensive line know they're coming together at the right time.

The same could be said of the defensive line, which the 315-pound senior is also a part of.

In a game where they dominated in the trenches, Fernandez and the rest of his Bengals brethren gashed visiting Panther Creek for 411 yards rushing while holding the Catamounts to just 3.1 yards per carry in a 41-14 Tri-Nine Conference showdown.

The No. 8 Bengals' O-line of Fernandez, Alex Stella, Zach Tousignant, Vincent Bacosa, Josh Ricci and tight end Jon MacBride paved the way for runners like Ricky Fergerson (15-190) and Carlton Bridges (13-162). Fuquay (5-1, 3-1 Tri-Nine) didn't punt until 2:10 remaining in the third quarter.

"We wanted to prove a statement about Fuquay's offensive line. We're going to start it up front and everyone in the backfield is going to do the rest," Fernandez said. "When everybody does their job and executes perfectly, it's an awesome feeling."

Kyle Smith capped off the game's opening drive with a 5-yard run off an option pitch to put the Bengals up 7-0.

On the first play of the second quarter, Fergerson took a sweep hand-off 61 yards around the right side into the end zone to put the Bengals up 14-0. Fergerson, who had zero yards on 10 carries in a win last week at Cary, had 185 rushing yards by halftime.

"It's a good feeling to be able to bounce back after such a hard game," Fergerson said. "It's finally starting to click, and you can tell by the score."

Panther Creek (4-2, 3-2) got on the board on its second drive, with running back David Mayaka punching it in on a 4th-and-goal from the 1-yard-line to cut the lead to 14-7.

Ocean Stroud ran in a score from 12 yards out with just 46 seconds left till halftime, and just like that Fuquay was up 20-7 without having thrown one pass.

"We have a tremendous offensive line coach in coach (Tim) Paluzzi, who used to coach at Green Hope," said Bengals head coach Ryan Habich. "He gets those guys ready each week. We worked hard to stop the blitzes and the penetration of Panther Creek, and they did a good job of picking that up. And we knew once we could pop our speed guys into the secondary, we were going to make big plays."

Fuquay's Garrett Suggs picked off a Jordan Jensen pass right before halftime, giving him his sixth in as many games and keeping his season-long interception-per-game streak alive.

Bengals quarterback Evan McNeill scored on a 3-yard quarterback sneak, set up by a 78-yard run by Bridges on the Bengals' first offensive play of the half.

Fuquay scored on the second play of the fourth quarter, with McNeill hitting a wide-open Smith for a 51-yard passing touchdown after a fake option run.

Panther Creek bobbled the ensuing kickoff, which the Bengals' Will Hartman recovered. Just a few plays later, Bridges added a 7-yard touchdown run to put Fuquay up 41-7.

Panther Creek's Dorrel McClain scored on an 8-yard touchdown carry to provide the game's final points.