In a 28-12 Seminole District win over Heritage Friday night, the Bees also proved that the best defense is a good offense.

Behind the strong front wall provided by Tarik Ghriri, Brett Phelps, Ben Martin and Co., Brookville dominated the clock with a 72-38 edge in plays from scrimmage and a 216-57 advantage in yards rushing.

"I think we can run the ball on anybody," said the 6-foot-2, 295 pound Ghriri, who was part of the unit that gradually wore down the Heritage defense.

The benefactor of Brookville's strong front line was junior running back Dejon Kennedy who rushed for 122 yards and four touchdowns, all of them on short blasts off tackle.

"We had good field position all night and Bruce (Rubinberg got off some nice punts," said Johnson after the Bees won their fifth straight game after a season-opening loss to defending state champion Salem.

On their four touchdown drives, the Bees started on the Heritage 35, the Brookville 38, the Brookville 38 and the Heritage 3. Meanwhile, the Pioneers (2-3 overall and 0-1 in the Seminole) had poor field position most of the night, averaging starting at their own 20 on their first seven possessions.

With a crowd of nearly 3,000 watching, the Bees went 35 yards in seven plays on their third possession with Kennedy getting the handoff from quarterback Chad Steuck each time. His 1-yard TD run with 9:09 left in the first quarter put the Bees ahead 7-0.

The touchdown was set up by Steven Kee's interception (the first of three picked off by the Brookville defense) of a Joey White pass.

The Pioneers, who hurt themselves with four turnovers, appeared to have held the Bees to a field goal late in the first half. However, a roughing-the-kicker penalty gave the Bees a first-and-goal at the Heritage 7 and Kennedy's 1-yard run made it 13-0 with 2:16 left.

"I don't particularly like taking points off the board (Chris Cumberland had kicked a 31-yard field goal)," said Johnson. "But we were controlling the line of scrimmage and moving the ball and it was late in the half."

The Pioneers missed a chance to take momentum into halftime when Lavar Anthony intercepted a White pass in the end zone with 59 seconds to go. Out of the shotgun formation, White had connected on a 32-yard pass to Lamont Alexander and a 24-yarder to Jason McGlothlin as the Pioneers moved to the Brookville 5-yard line.

On the first play of the fourth quarter, Kennedy bulled in from the 3-yard line to cap a 62-yard drive that ate up nearly six minutes on the clock. It was 21-0 and the Pioneers had no choice but to go to the air.

White's first pass was tipped and intercepted by Kee who returned it 35 yards to the Heritage 3-yard line. Another Kennedy run made it 28-0 with 11:30 left in the game.

Heritage's Quincy Slaughter, held to 35 yards rushing on nine attempts, set up the first Pioneer touchdown with a 43-yard kickoff return. White hit Alexander and C.J. Hamlett on passes of 18 and 17 yards and Screen scored on a 2-yard run to cut the Brookville lead to 28-6 with 10:27 to go.

With the Bees substituting liberally in the waning minutes, White led the Pioneers on a 75-yard scoring drive that was culminated by a 9-yard TD catch by Alexander (5 catches for 110 yards), moments after he had a 44-yarder.

As for the Brookville defense, Ghriri said, "We just need to improve a little on the passing game and we'll get better on that. We're not satisfied yet but I think we will make the playoffs and go beyond that. We came out this year with something to prove."