The River Falls Wildcats got off to a dominant start to the season Thursday night, defeating the Wisconsin Rapids Red Raiders by a score of 33-7.

Week 1 was nothing new for the Wildcats who finished last season in first place with a record of 10-2. Moving quickly down the field, River Falls scored on their first possession of the game. This set the tone for the rest of the first quarter which ended with the Wildcats up 20-0.

The Red Raiders, who finished last season with an 8-3 record, looked like they might be mounting a comeback in the 2^nd quarter. Wisconsin Rapids connected on a 35-yard pass ending on the 3-yard line and punched it in to make the score 20-7, and they immediately followed that up by forcing the Wildcats to go 3 and out.

However, the River Falls defense proved to be too much for Wisconsin Rapids though as they forced a fumble and got the ball right back. With about 3:30 left in the half, the Wildcats ran out the clock going into halftime up two scores.

The third quarter started fast with the Wildcats completing a deep shot of their own, going 37 yards and finishing in the endzone making the score 27-7.

The first drive of the fourth quarter started with River Falls taking advantage of a poor throw over the middle as they intercepted the ball near midfield and nearly returned it for a touchdown. After getting stopped twice and penalized, 1^st and goal turned into 3^rd and 18. Thinking touchdown from the start, Wildcats Quarterback Pete Range put one up in the air for Wide Receiver Andrew Amundson to go after in the endzone, and he did not fail to impress, making the contested catch and retaining possession as he rolled to the ground.

A failed 2-point attempt ensued, but with very little time remaining, the Wildcats forced yet another fumble and the game ended 33-7.

Even with all the new faces on River Falls’ starting roster, those who watched the game might have felt some deja vu as this game was almost a carbon copy of last year when River Falls dominated Wisconsin Rapids in week one to the tune of 28-7.

“We only brought back seven starters this season, three on D and four or five on O,” Ryan Scherz, coach of the Wildcats, said. “So, we were playing pretty young. For most of the second half we were playing with three sophomores on the offensive line.”

Part of having a lot of young personnel is working through the growing pains.

“I had to burn three timeouts in the first quarter, which I’ve never had to do,” Scherz said. “But, as young as we were out there, I think we weathered that part of it really well, especially against a tough, physical football team like Wisconsin Rapids.”

Individual standout performances included Range, who did it all in this game throwing for 132 yards and three touchdowns while also chipping in 66 yards on the ground with some opportunistic running. Jonah Severson added more big numbers to that rushing total putting up 99 yards and two touchdowns on 24 carries. Finally, the Wildcats defense performed at a high level all night holding the Red Raiders to 3 for 8 on 3^rd downs, forced three total turnovers and only allowed a single score.

River Falls heads to Holmen High School next week to face the Vikings in their first away game of the season. Kickoff is at 7 p.m.