RUNNING HARD — Oak Glen’s Logan Murray breaks free for a big gain against Weir High Thursday night. Murray finished with 217 yards and a pair of touchdowns in a 32-14 Golden Bears win.  - Andrew Grimm

They certainly looked capable of doing so as they started out their season Thursday night in the battle for the Carl Hamill Trophy.

Logan Murray racked up 217 yards, scoring early touchdowns on his second and fourth carries of the game, leading the way as the Golden Bears jumped ahead early, built a big lead and headed back up Route 2 with a 32-14 victory over the Red Riders.

“We wanted to hit the ground running, we were focused,” Miller said. “My two keys to the game were to win the line of scrimmage, which I felt like we did, and stay within ourselves. These guys did a phenomenal job of that. I can’t say enough about how everybody contributed.

“We knew this was a big one coming into Weir’s house in the rivalry game. This is a good start, but we’re got a lot of games left and we’re not done. Our whole team got better tonight.

Weir High’s Daniel Howland fights through an Oak Glen tackler during Thursday’s game. - Andrew Grimm

“We’ve got the trophy back where it belongs.”

Murray broke a 67-yard run to the end zone on Oak Glen’s second play from scrimmage, adding a 39-yard scoring run on the next drive. A safety on a bad snap on a Weir punt sandwiched between Murray’s runs made it a 16-0 Oak Glen lead after one.

Maddox Bowen, who also had an interception in the first half, capped a long scoring drive late in the second quarter with a 1-yard QB sneak, a conversion pass making it a 24-0 game at halftime.

Bowen, who threw for more than 1,700 yards at Madonna last year, completed just one pass that counted — multiple others were called back on penalties — but he didn’t need to throw much as the Golden Bears racked up 275 yards and all four of its touchdowns on the ground, led by Murray’s big night. Jacob Everett also had a 1-yard scoring run in the third quarter, which made it 32-0 Oak Glen.

“I’ve said all summer that Logan is a stud and he can break it to the house at any time,” Miller said. “We didn’t even get to showcase Maddox’s arm because we were running the ball so well. Anytime we can come out and run the ball like that, we’re going to keep rolling with it. Hats off to Logan, and more importantly, our O-line, those guys never get the credit the other guys do in the papers but they opened the holes and did a great job.”

Oak Glen quarterback Maddox Bowen fires a pass during Thursday’s game. - Andrew Grimm

The Red Riders showed some fight in the fourth quarter as QB Nick DiMatteis fired a 38-yard scoring toss to Landon Haught in the fourth quarter, then Daniel Howland intercepted a pass and scored on a 4-yard run as time expired.

DiMatteis, who had a 39-yard pass to set up the last score, finished with 152 yards passing, 132 of which were in the second half. Howland led the Red Riders on the ground with 75 yards on 11 carries.

“We were in our own way, it was a lot of correctable mistakes,” Weir High head coach Quincy Wilson said. “As a coach, I love that it was stuff we can fix. We didn’t get physically dominated or anything like that. We’re a young team, the most important thing is we stay together. Our biggest improvement is going to be from Week 1 to Week 2.

“Our guys kept playing hard, we’ve got guys. We just have to find our recipe for success.”

UP NEXT

Oak Glen: Hosts St. Marys next Friday night.

Weir High: Hosts John Marshall next Friday night.