BANGOR — There will be tougher games ahead for the Cassopolis football team, but its Southwest 10 Conference opener at Bangor last Friday night was not one of them.

The Rangers scored early and often against the Vikings in a 49-0 victory that had a running clock in the first half after both coaches agreed to use the mercy rule in the first half.

Normally, the running clock does not begin until a team is up by more than 35 points in the second half.

Cassopolis (1-0) pretty much did whatever it wanted against Bangor as it rolled up 224 yards in rushing on just 22 attempts and five touchdowns in the first half alone.

The Rangers added 170 yards rushing in the second half on 16 carries.

Tyrese Hunt-Thompson got the special teams involved in the scoring with a 55-yard punt return.

The Rangers only attempted to throw the ball four times, completing two for a loss of one yard.

That is an area veteran Cassopolis coach Dan Purlee said the team will be working on moving forward.

“I like the fact that we came out and executed fairly well at the start,” Purlee said. “We just emphasized ‘keep playing hard.’ We got a lot of young guys in. Guys were battling for positions because there are still some uncertainties. I thought we came out strong. We got a little bit sloppy in the second half, but that is going to happen when you are rotating guys in.

“I thought our starters came out and played strong right out of the gate. When they got their chance early on they did a nice job executing. We did not throw a lot tonight and we need to clean that up a bit because we need to be able to throw the ball. We had a lot of success with that last year. I really like Dylan (Green) and Xander (Smith) is back after taking last year off. He is a heckuva talent too.”

Smith showed his abilities playing quarterback in relief of starter Green when he broke loose down the opponent’s sideline on a 56-yard touchdown run.

Aiden Dahlgren rushed for a pair of scores for the Rangers, who also got a pair of touchdowns from Brandon Anderson and one from KyJuan Lanier.

Defensively for the Rangers, Ahsan Hart, a freshman, and Hunter Parsons each had seven tackles.

Cassopolis limited Bangor to just 20 yards of total offense in the first half. The Vikings rushed for a minus 34 yards. They were 8-of-16 for 54 yards throwing the football.

In the second half, the Vikings had just 14 yards of total offense.

The Rangers travel to Decatur to take on the Raiders Thursday.

Kickoff is set for 7 p.m.