ROCK FALLS – Two offensive plays into its season opener against Rock Falls on Thursday night, Byron had already scored three touchdowns.

Caden Considine took the first two Tigers carries into the end zone, and Landon Bonvallet returned an interception for a touchdown in between as Byron rolled to a 63-0 victory at Hinders Field.

“That’s our goal, to score as quick as possible and get that momentum going right away,” quarterback Andrew Talbert said. “Everyone was involved, and that’s a good look for us. All that comes big into play as we go through the season. We’ve got to have depth, and we’ve got to be able to score not only on offense, but on defense and special teams, too.”

Considine (53 yards) scored touchdowns on all three of his carries in the game, and Talbert added a touchdown run and a punt return TD as the Tigers (1-0, 1-0 BNC) jumped out to a 42-0 halftime lead. In the first half, Byron amassed 146 total yards and four touchdowns on 14 offensive snaps.

For the game, the Tigers finished with 333 yards rushing and seven touchdowns on 30 carries to go with a 23-yard pass, Bonvallet’s 15-yard pick-six and Talbert’s 73-yard punt-return score. Nathan Wheeler (84 yards, TD) and Jaxson Krall (27 yards) both ran for TDs in the second half, and Dylan Dach capped the scoring with a 48-yard touchdown run with 3:35 remaining. Jayce Keesee added 48 yards on a team-high seven rushes, and Weston Auker had a first-half interception.

“Obviously you want to hit those big plays and score, but it all comes together when the defense and special teams are scoring as well,” Considine said. “When you can play all aspects of the game, be a threat in all phases, then all the guys know that they’re doing their jobs and they’re important to our success. It brings the team together.

“Here at Byron, we’ve got a standard: If you go in, there’s no let-up, you’ve got to play hard – and I thought all our guys followed through with that tonight, from the starters down to the third and fourth strings; I was very impressed with them.”

Rock Falls (0-1, 0-1) ran the ball 27 times for 13 yards, but the total yardage finished at minus-11 thanks to a high snap on a punt attempt that led to a 24-yard loss. Fullback Zachary Walker pounded his way to 17 yards on seven rushes, and Logan Thome added 13 yards on seven carries, including the Rockets’ lone first down of the game on an 18-yard scamper around end on the game’s penultimate play in the final minute.

First-year head coach Dave Chavira said taking on the top-ranked team in Class 3A in the opening week was a learning experience for his team.

“We’ll use this film to be teachable-moment opportunities. We’re a very young team, and what we need to do is continue to teach our kids how to read on offense and defense and react at 100% speed – like Byron does,” he said. “We’re going to have to start rising each week to compete.”

But despite seven punts, three turnovers (including on downs on the bad punt snap) and the game ending during their final drive, the Rockets never quit fighting, and Chavira was proud to see that from his team in his first game as head coach.

“Byron played as physical as we thought they would, and we had to shuffle some guys into some positions they’re not used to, and our kids still played with a lot of spirit,” Chavira said. “We gave 100%, and we’re definitely happy about that.”

“Props to Rock Falls, they played hard all game, they did not give up,” Talbert said. “They were playing hard until the last second of the game, so credit to them.”