By Kayla Brew

CASSOPOLIS — High school football is back upon us.

The Cassopolis Rangers could not have had a better opening night than they did against the Bangor Vikings.

It was a dominating performance for the Rangers, who scored 42 points in the opening quarter on their way to a 77-0 Southwest 10 Conference victory over the Vikings last Thursday.

“They kept good focus along with good discipline and kept up good sportsmanship,” said veteran Cassopolis coach Dan Purlee. “This was a good home opener for the Rangers. It was a good confidence boost for some of the boys I’d say. For some of these boys, it was the first time playing a varsity game. This was a good one to work out some kinks we have. At the end of the night, all the players from both teams showed good attitude as well as keeping their heads up.”

What a performance it was.

The Rangers are typically a running type team, however they started the night with a passing mentality then went back to what they know best and ran the ball.

The Ranger defense didn’t allow any positive yardage for the struggling Bangor offense.

Cassopolis owned the air, and field, with 196 rushing yards to a minus 48 yards for Bangor.  The Vikings were able to get some passing yards in with four, while the Rangers finished with 88.

The Rangers managed to get a total of 284 yards for the night, while they left their opponent with minus 44 yards.

Owen Gardner, a junior for the Rangers, led them with 62 rushing yards. Teammates Hunter Parsons, a junior, finished with 39, and Ky’ante Buck, a senior, finished with 30 yards.

Buck also performed very well on the defensive side of the field with a total of four tackles, one being a solo.

Cassopolis is back on its home turf as they hosts Decatur with kickoff slated for 7 p.m.

The Raiders are 1-0 after defeating arch rival Marcellus 26-6 last week.