For Northeast Lauderdale coach John Douglass, it’s all about starting fast.

Well, consider that mission a success.

Behind the duo of Kam Hulin and Michael McClinton, the Trojans raced past county rival Southeast Lauderdale 49-7 Friday night to remain unbeaten.

“I thought we did everything we asked the kids to do tonight. We had a speed bump for a second and made mistakes,” Douglass said. “We try to do a lot of different things with we have in the backfield, and Kam and Michael are a good tandem. They both understand what we expect from them.”

Southeast Lauderdale struck first on the opening drive by going 43 yards and capping it off with a a Travis Ruttley 2-yard touchdown carry on fourth and goal to give the Tigers a 7-0 lead with 8:11 left in the first quarter.

It was all Trojans after that.

Northeast Lauderdale scored on all five of its first-half possessions to go up 35-7 at halftime. The Trojans had 443 yards of total offense, with 254 of those yards coming on the ground.

McClinton had three rushing touchdowns in the first half from 3, 2 and 6 yards out. He finished the night with 92 yards rushing on 17 carries and three touchdowns.

Hulin scored on a 34-yard touchdown run with 35 seconds left in the first quarter to give the Trojans a 14-7 lead.

“The offensive line did an outstanding job of blocking up front, so I can do what I was able to do,” McClinton said. “Our backfield has so much chemistry, it’s like we grew up together.”

Hulin had 116 yards rushing on 11 carries with a touchdown and also went 9-for-13 in passing for 189 yards with three touchdowns. Two of those touchdown passes went to Chris Hardy from 23 and 36 yards out. The other touchdown pass went to Jaquarius Barron for 82 yards in the third quarter.

“The new coaching staff has pushed us to the max, and we’ve just built off that every week and will continue to do so,” Hulin said. “We just (took) what the defense gave us tonight and took advantage.”

Next week, the Trojans (3-0) will host Jackson Academy (3-0) for homecoming.

Douglass will go head to head with his former coach and boss in Larry Weems.

“I haven’t started the year 3-0 with many teams in my career, so it’s great to be in this position,” Douglass said. “The thing is, it doesn’t get easier especially next week. Coach Weems is a great coach — I worked with him and played for him, so they’ll be ready to go.”

Ruttley had 69 yards rushing with a touchdown to lead Southeast Lauderdale (0-3). The Tigers will host Newton County next week.