The old adage that it all starts up front proved to be main ingredient for Washington in a 35-6 season opening victory over CCS last Friday night at Reed Field.

“I want to start with our front seven on defense,” head coach Brad Beller said.

The down linemen were nose guard Lane Taylor, who was flanked by Hunter Sanders and Ricky Ramirez.

Rotating in at linebacker were Case Alexander, Jaaron Gordon, Blake Heiliger, Henry Mann, Gavin Foster and Jax Mitchell.

“They controlled and dominated the whole game,” Beller said. “CCS was pretty big up front and we forced them to throw it. And they weren’t very efficient.”

CCS did hit one 37 yard pass on the No. 1 ranked Warriors which turned out to be half of their passing yards for the night.

“Outside of that even our pass defense was pretty good,” he said.

Washington limited CCS to 62 yards rushing on 31 snaps.

“That’s pretty good at two yards per carry,” he said.

The Royals ended the night with seven first downs but only four came against the Warrior starters.

On the other side of the ball it was a similar story with the offensive line dominating as well.

Sam Cantrell, Kingston Stringer, Gunnar Baker, Trip Wilson, Evan Painter and Chaiser Phillips rotated in on that unit.

“I was very, very pleased with the offensive line,” Beller said.

“They had a little harder time in pass protection because CCS used a lot of exotic blitzes.”

That forward wall paved the way for Josiah Dickerson to rush eight times for 146 yards and two touchdowns of eight and 18 yards.

The Warriors finished the night with 253 yards rushing  on 29 snaps.

Washington was 4-13 passing for 111 yards and a pair of touchdowns.

Creed Barrett hit Case Alexander on the first play of the game on a 51-yard scoring strike. Kinzer Scott also hooked up with Alexander for a touchdown on a pass of 27 yards.

Friday night at Sulphur at 7 p.m. will be a football fan’s dream with No. 1 2A Washington visiting the No. 2 3A Bulldogs who are frothing at the mouth for a victory.

“I’m sure ever since we won the State Championship they’ve had this one circled and so have we,” Beller said.

“It’s not just for bragging rights for central and southern Oklahoma, it’s for the all over the state,” Beller said.

“They pride themselves in being a really strong and physical team and we pride ourselves in being the same.”

It’ll be Sulphur’s first game of the season so Washington will have the edge there already having the first game jitters out of the way.

“It’s helpful to have gone through pre-game and having a live look at special teams,” Beller said. “But the bad thing is we don’t have any film of them and they do on us.”

Beller said the key to the game will be controlling emotions.

“You have to control your emotions in a game like this,” he confirmed. “And, we have to be willing to match their intensity and physicality for 48 minutes.”

Warrior notes:

Head coach Brad Beller nominated Josiah Dickerson as the Offensive Player of the Week. Dickerson rushed the pigskin eight times for 146 yards and two touchdowns.

Beller nominated Kingston Stringer as the Offensive lineman of the Week. He graded out at 81 percent against CCS.

Getting the nod as the Defensive Player of the Week was Aaron Gordon who registered nine tackles.

Ricky Ramirez was the nominee as the Defensive Lineman of the Week. He had seven tackles and two quarterback sacks last Friday night.