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Steamboat Springs — It might have seemed like the start of just another season Friday night in Oak Creek. Soroco ended its season-opening football game with a strung-together assortment of freshmen and back-ups filling in as best they could.

It was the start of something all right, but Soroco proved to North Park that it was anything but just another game.

The Rams walloped North Park on Friday night, stepping with style for their first game in 8-man football with a 51-26 victory.

"Make this the start of a new tradition," Soroco coach David Bruner roared to his team after the game.

The Rams looked plenty comfortable with the new style.

Soroco built an early lead and dominated on both offense and defense. It played so well that by the end of the game, the Rams substitutes were being called on not to fill in for injured players as they so often had in the past, but to gain experience in what had become a rout.

"It feels good. It feels like a change," said junior quarterback Cody Miles, who played through Soroco's miserable season a year ago. "It's great feeling good after the game. After the first game last year, we were all trashed and beaten down, but this is great."

Senior running back Mike Davis scored Soroco's first touchdown, and sophomore Jacob Hange plowed in for the team's second less than halfway through the first quarter. It was the defense that sparkled more than any other element, however.

The Rams kicked off to open the game and quickly pushed North Park back into its own end zone for a safety and a 2-0 lead.

"I talked to them before the game about how we had to get an early start. I told them to put them away early, and they did just that," Bruner said. "The first-string defense was great. They're pretty solid. It's going to be tough to move it on them all year."

The Wildcats had their moments. Sophomore quarterback Brent Lytle threw the ball well, especially to senior Perry Forster, and senior running back Darrol Berry broke free for a pair of long touchdown runs.

Still, it was Soroco's day, and the Rams proudly provided most of the explosions.

Davis rumbled for 17 yards, then another five for his second touchdown, then he followed a 20-yard run with another 5-yard scoring dive on the next possession.

Ryan Tibbits added a score of his own with a 16-yard run just 50 seconds before halftime, helping his team to a 37-6 lead at the break.

Tibbits replaced senior Cody Miles at quarterback for most of the second half. He said he didn't come into the game expecting big minutes or big stats, but that he got the chance showed just how good of a night it was for Soroco.

He scored three touchdowns playing in his first football game in two years.

"It's great to start a new tradition," the senior, who transferred in last year, said. "It just feels awesome to have a game like that in my first game in two years. It feels like we started a new tradition."

- To reach Joel Reichenberger, call 871-4253 or e-mail jreichenberger@steamboatpilot.com