Harlem dominates Auburn over two days

Jahmani Muhammad and Jackson Cook starred at night and in the sunshine in a strange win over Auburn.

Muhammad had five touchdown runs and Cook had three interceptions, including one he returned for a score in a 40-6 win that took two days to complete.

Harlem was up 20-6 in the third quarter Friday night, powered by three Muhammad scores and two Cook interceptions. With Auburn facing a 4th-and-19 on its own 37 Friday night, a fight behind the stands escalated into chaos with fans and players running for the exits.

Police from three departments came to Harlem. No one was seriously injured and a full accounting of what started the fracas and why it escalated was not available Saturday. The game was postponed until Saturday at 4:30 p.m. Only family was allowed into the stadium.

Trailing, Auburn chose to go for it on fourth down when the game resumed. The Knights’ pass failed and Muhammad scored on a 63-yard run on the next play to essentially end the game. In the fourth quarter, Cook picked off his third pass of the game and took it back 68 yards for a score.

Harlem coach Jim Morrow said Harlem did a good job of preparing on Saturday.

“We had some built-in advantages (on Saturday),” Morrow said. “We had the lead on the scoreboard. We’re not the ones who had to get on the bus a second time. We were able to make some corrections on film. We worked on some injuries before we started back up. We just tried to be smart and take advantage of all of those things.”

Harlem is 2-0, but it will take a large step up in competition next week. The Huskies face Hononegah. The Indians are the defending NIC-10 champs and have beaten Harlem the past three seasons.

“There were times when it was pretty ugly. We have to cut down on the penalties,” Morrow said. “Defensively, we’re playing really well. They are carrying us right now.”