If you ask the Moriah football team, Friday’s 41-0 victory over Saranac Lake couldn’t have started any better on their home field.

“It’s great. That’s the way you want to see a game start,” Vikings head coach Casey Nephew said. “You know, I couldn’t have scripted it better really.

“That’s a big momentum swing when you get that opportunity to get the ball that early,” he added. “You know, drive down and score. It really set the tone for what we wanted to do.”

In the first eight minutes of the game, there were two Red Storm fumbles and a Moriah onside kick. Before one could blink, the Vikings were up 22-0 and never looked back.

It all started on the first play of offense for Saranac Lake. Lining under center, the Red Storm’s Zack Goetz took the ball, and between the snap and the handoff, the ball hit the ground and was quickly piled onto.

The Vikings came out with the ball and marched down the field as Evan Fleury opened the scoring with a 17-yard blast up the middle.

Through his run, it seemed as if the goal for Moriah was to be as physical as possible as Fleury — and running mate Logan Gilbo — would aim for contact, rather than avoid it as he made his way to the endzone.

“We like to be the ones to initiate contact,” Nephew said. “Moriah boys are known to be a physical group, and we want to remind teams of that. We like to set the tone and control the clock.”

The Vikings did more than that. As on the ensuing kickoff they caught Saranac Lake off guard with an onside kick that Moriah recovered.

Five plays later, the score was 16-0, and the Red Storm had only touched the ball two times.

It couldn’t get much better, or worse, depending on who you asked. But, it did.

Saranac Lake fumbled the ball deep on their own side of the field after one play of offense.

It gave Moriah a short field, 20 yards to march, to push the score to 22-0 when Gilbo scored from two yards out.

After a quick three-and-out for the Red Storm, the Vikings moved the ball towards the end zone again. The only thing that stopped them at this point was the end of the quarter.

Through one-quarter of play, Moriah had outgained Saranac Lake in yards 101-8.

The second quarter saw the Vikings score quickly as they finished the drive they were on with a 1-yard plunge from Jake Mascarenas to push the lead to 28-0.

Moriah would continue to maintain ball control offense in the second half as they limited Saranac Lake to only four series in the final two quarters.

It was this style of offense that made it nearly impossible for the Red Storm to get any sort of offensive rhythm. With the low number of drives, they couldn’t afford mistakes or short series.

They had both, in three turnovers and their longest series being six plays.

“I’m happy with the way we played,” Nephew said. “We’ve worked hard. The boys have worked hard all season but especially the last few weeks trying to minimize mistakes take care of the football.

“I feel like we did a pretty good job with that and controlling the game,” he added.

Moriah did just that. The Vikings ran 44 plays to the Red Storm’s 24.

With the game in hand, Moriah was able to get every player involved in the game. From offense to defense the team saw those with little playing time step in and make plays.

Oh, it’s great in games that you can get everybody in,” Nephew said. “They’re all working hard at practice. It’s a whole whole team effort every week whether kids are in the game or not.

“It’s nice to be able to reward those kids that are working hard that you know might not get in every game. Which is awesome.”

Nephew said he wanted his team to enjoy the victory, but he and the coaches reminded players that they need to focus on the task at hand. It doesn’t get any easier for the Vikings.

Moriah (4-1, 3-1) will host Peru (4-1, 3-1) in a clash for second place in the Champlain Valley Athletic Conference, Friday, at Linney Field at 7:30 p.m.

Saranac Lake (1-4, 1-3) returns home to host Beekmantown (3-3, 3-2), Saturday at 1:30 p.m. in Saranac Lake.

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Moriah 41, Saranac Lake 0

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Vikings 22 6 7 6 — 41

Red Storm 0 0 0 0 — 0

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Scoring

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First Quarter

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M — Fleury 17 run (Fleury run), 10:00

M — Fleury 4 run (Giblo run), 6:56

M — Gilbo 2 run (pass failed), 4:05

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Second Quarter

M — Mascarenas 1 run (pass failed), 11:04

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Third Quarter

M — Gilbo 5 run (White kick), 8:47

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Fourth Quarter

M — White 1 run (kick failed), 10:24

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Individual Statistics

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RUSHING

SL — Willett 3-16; Nicholas 3-(-4); Goetz 3-(-6); Muncil 5-28; Daunais-Martelle 4-26. Totals: 18-60.

M — Gilbo 10-95 2 TD; Valentine 4-16; Fleury 4-45 2 TD; Mascarenas 9-35 TD; Scoresome 2-10; Green 2-21; Snyder 4-10; White 4-25 TD; Cutting 2-3. Totals: 41-260 6 TDs.

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PASSING

SL — Goetz 1-6-1-8

M — Pelkey 2-3-0-47

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RECIEVING

SL — Willett 1-8.

M — Allen 1-7; Callahan 1-40

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INTERCEPTIONS

M — Pelkey