The Nanaimo Redmen got their first win in the books right away.
The city's Vancouver Mainland Football League midget team began the 2013 season on Sunday with a convincing 42-0 victory over the Comox Valley Raiders at May Richards Bennett Pioneer Park.
Last year the Redmen took most of the regular season to record their first win – this year, it happened in Week 1.
"It's a real big morale booster," said Jonah Wassell, the team's quarterback. "It's a good start and we want to keep rolling."
Nanaimo led 14-0 at halftime on a rushing touchdown from Riley Savard and a receiving TD from Payton Paladini. In the second half Jacob Odynsky, David Work and Wassell scored rushing TDs and Work also had an interception return for a touchdown.
Marcus Severe and Tyler Gavin also had picks in the game.
"Our front seven played really well and easily stopped the run early, which allowed our DBs to just focus on the pass," said Sean Roden, the team's coach. "We were never vulnerable to anything over the top."
The coach said the offence got better in the second half as it simplified things, and also wore down the opposition
"Our running backs ran pretty hard," said Wassell. "It really helps because on offence it opens up the pass as well and we were able to kind of take advantage of that."
The Redmen have another home game Sunday (Sept. 8) against the Chilliwack Giants, and will be looking to continue building the positives that came out of Week 1.
"We've got a lot of talent this year, which is exciting," Wassell said. "We could do really well, I think, this season."
GAME ON … The Redmen and Giants kick off Sunday at 2 p.m. at Pioneer Park. The game is the second half of a doubleheader, as the bantam Island Red Dogs host the North Surrey Tigers at noon.
sports@nanaimobulletin.com