Southington - There were times over the summer where Norwich Free Academy linemen J'Von and Noah Brown would finish lifting, go outside, and smash into one another.

Hey, they are linemen.

"We pushed each other hard," J'Von Brown said about matching skills with Noah. "This season, it's nothing compared to (pushing) each other."

Note that J'Von is 6-foot-3 and 315 pounds, and Noah goes 6-3 and 265 pounds.

That's a lot of human.

"The one-on-ones, that's what prepares you for a game," Noah Brown said. "If I can go against J and J can go against me, there's not a lot people in the state who are going to stop either one of us."

NFA will be relying heavily on the Browns on Saturday night at 6 when it plays top-seeded Southington in the CIAC Class LL-Large championship game at Willow Brook Park in New Britain. The Wildcats' bully-ball run game has relied on the two junior offensive tackles, as well as center Nick Jacaruso and guards Stephen Agnatovech and Marc D'Elia.

Senior tailback Khaleed Exum-Strong and sophomore quarterback Jawaun Johnson have both rushed for 300 yards in the same game twice this season for the second-seeded Wildcats (9-2). That it happened even once was an amazing accomplishment.

Bob Barton, one of the state's most knowledgeable high school football historians and a caretaker of the Connecticut High School Football Record Book, had never heard of such a feat.

Exum-Strong has rushed for more than 2,000 yards this season between the regular season and the playoffs. Johnson has run for 10 touchdowns ... in NFA's last two games.

"We take pride in how much they've been able to accomplish," J'Von Brown said, "and we take some credit for that because we make the holes for them.

"They give us our credit. They've taken us out, given us some food here and there. Real good food. We appreciate it."

Noah Brown said: "With the size of the offensive line that we have, and the caliber of running backs that we have, the run is going to be extremely hard to stop for any team that we go against."

The Browns were recognized for their play by the Eastern Connecticut Conference Large Division coaches. Noah was chosen as an offensive lineman, while J'Von made it as a defensive tackle.

"We've had some pretty good offensive lines, however in terms of girth, we haven't had that," NFA coach Jemal Davis said. "J'Von, Noah, Steve, even Marc, you're talking about guys who are over 250 along the offensive line.

"You hope that they can wear (teams) down in the fourth quarter," Davis said. "The other thing that (their size) does is that if you're able to create some double-teams, you have some mass and you can move the ball. We are spread, but we're a downhill running team, and that's the type of personnel you want up front.

"You want to be able to knock some guys around because the game of football is a physical game."

The Wildcats can score quickly with their zone read attack. They scored five touchdowns on just 12 plays in the third quarter of their 63-40 romp over New London on Thanksgiving.

It would behoove NFA to hold on to the ball against Southington (11-0), however. The Blue Knights, ranked first in The Day's state coaches' poll, have arguably the state's fastest offense. They'll often snap the ball three seconds after the official spots it, and they can strike quickly.

"You want to be able to obviously put up some points," Davis said, "but if you can sustain some drives and still put some points up on the board, then it limits them a little bit."

J'Von Brown said: "We have to keep it (the football) on our side, keep the ball with us and just work them down. Just beat them up every play. Get them tired so that we can score."

Just not too fast.

"We'll have to tell (Exum-Strong and Johnson) to slow down," J'Von Brown said. "If they can."

n.griffen@theday.com

Twitter: @MetalNED