Central's football team was determined not to get embarrassed by Northwestern for the second consecutive season in the Orange Bowl.

Northwestern, the top-ranked team in the nation, got a tough contest from its biggest rivals Saturday night, but secured a 24-12 victory against Central thanks to a handful of big plays.

The Bulls (8-0, 4-0 district) captured the District 13-6A championship in front of an estimated 22,000 fans, and they extended their winning streak to 23 games.

Central (7-1, 3-1), ranked fourth in The Miami Herald's South Florida Top 20 rankings, will advance to the playoffs as the district runner-up.

''We accomplished one of our main goals,'' Northwestern coach Billy Rolle said. ``We knew we had to be patient because the big plays we're going to come.''

Northwestern had to be more than patient, they needed to make a major adjustment early in the game.

The Bulls figured Central would be better prepared than ever to face them since former Bulls assistant coach Alex Snipes instituted the same spread offense the Bulls run when he became Central's offensive coordinator before the start of the season.

But Northwestern quarterback Jacory Harris said after the game that the Rockets seemed to know their plays as well as his own team did.

''It seemed like they knew everything we ran,'' Harris said. ``They knew what checks I was making at the line. We had to adjust as we went along during the game.''

Central's defense stopped the Bulls on its first two drives, but failed to score after Northwestern's own secondary made a couple of pass break-ups and junior Tevin McCaskill intercepted Rockets quarterback Jeffrey Godfrey with 9:40 left in the second quarter.

Faced with a 4th-and-1 at the Central 31-yard line, Harris completed a short pass to Aldarius Johnson, who slipped a tackle attempt and scampered to the end zone to give the Bulls a 6-0 lead.

The Bulls' secondary made another big play late in the first half when Charles Thompkins jumped in front of a Godfrey pass intended for Ben Kearse and returned it for a 59-yard interception for a touchdown. Northwestern missed the two-point conversion to keep the score 12-0 at the half.

Thompkins started the game in place of Keith Richburg, who injured his collarbone during practice this week. Richburg has a team-high four interceptions this season for Northwestern.

''We knew it would come down to our secondary making the plays,'' Rolle said. ``They go against a great offense every day. Our offense basically prepared them for what they'd see out there.''

Godfrey, one of Miami-Dade County's most efficient quarterbacks, had thrown only one interception before Saturday. He completed 14 of 29 passes for 146 yards and one touchdown and two interceptions.

Harris completed 14 of 23 passes for 198 yards and threw two touchdowns with no interceptions. Johnson finished with three catches for 40 yards and a touchdown.

Senior wide receiver Kendal Thompkins caught three passes for 90 yards. A big chunk came midway through the third quarter and was the eventual game-winning score.

Thompkins took a short toss, ran between a pair of defenders and sped down the sideline for an 83-yard score that gave the Bulls an 18-0 edge. Central scored its first points with nine minutes left in the game when senior Craig Baker sacked Harris, forced a fumble, recovered it and returned it 18 yards for a touchdown that cut the deficit to 18-6.

Northwestern derailed any last-minute comeback hopes when Daquan Hargrett ran for a 6-yard touchdown on the Bulls' most consistent offensive series of the game.

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