They weren’t quite sure who, if anyone, would finish the day as the primary ballcarrier, but as they unveiled a new spread, option-heavy offense during their season opener against Lawrenceville Saturday, the Bishop McNamara football team was certain of one thing.

They wanted to exert their will on the ground.

Their first five snaps of the season all were handoffs to Julius May, who finished with 97 yards and three touchdowns on 12 carries, as the Fightin’ Irish quickly established themselves on the ground before opening things up with some big pass plays while riding a dominant defense to a 58-0 victory.

May was the primary beneficiary of an Irish offense that totaled 219 rushing yards and 196 passing yards. With the Indians keyed on keeping speedy slot receiver Malachi Lee from getting to the edge, first-year coach Greg Youngblood noted the advantage May had on the inside, and also how tough they think their offense can be to stop.

“That’s what we want to do, run the ball,” Youngblood said. “Those are option plays, and if they play [May] hard then we can go on the perimeter and pitch the ball. But if they want to play on the perimeter, we can hurt them with [May].

“That’s the thing – they’ve got Malachi to worry about out there, all the quarterbacks can run, we have Julius up the middle and then you haven’t even seen Jordan [Callaway] yet. That’s what we want to have, is whoever they want to try and stop, hopefully the rest can rise up."

The quarterbacks Youngblood spoke of were Karter Krutsinger, Micah Lee and Gavin Antons, all of whom entered and finished the offseason competing for snaps as QB1. Krutsinger started the game, and after his first pass was bobbled and intercepted, completed the other four he threw for 64 yards.

Micah Lee entered after May found paydirt from 12 yards out on the first play of the second quarter to make it 14-0, and the Bradley-Bourbonnais junior transfer made an instant impact. Following the first of two Coen Demack interceptions, Micah Lee took his first carry as a golden domer 34 yards for a touchdown and then threw two – a 59-yarder to Demack three plays after his second pick of the game and a 67-yard bomb to Richie Darr just before the half to give the hosts a 35-0 halftime lead.

“I love this team, I love the coaches, I just go out there and play football. That’s it,” Micah Lee said. “ … It feels great. Coming in here since the first day of being here it’s just felt great and I’ve felt welcome."

Demack’s two interceptions accounted for half of the four turnovers the Irish defense forced, matching the amount of first downs they allowed to a Lawrenceville offense that mustered up 55 total yards. Ian Irps and Mason Hemenovar recovered fumbles, the latter coming from a Robbie Smith strip sack.

After seeing the Indians operate a completely different offense when they earned a 21-0 win at their place to start the 2024 season, Demack would have never imagined the opportunity for an interception Saturday, let alone two.

“We didn’t think they’d pass the ball very much,” Demack said. “Last year they were very Wing-T heavy and I thought I’d have to make a lot of tackles, not thinking I’d get a pick. To get two, it was great on defense today.”

With 15 returning letter-winners from last year’s 4-5 team, the Irish have had their goal of snapping a program-long three-year playoff drought since last November. Saturday was just the first step towards that goal, but it was a pretty lengthy leap.

“It sets a pretty high bar right now,” May said. “We set the goal of making the playoffs and want to bring Mac’s history back. Getting this win definitely feels good, but it just means we’re 1-0. We’re one game closer to the playoffs, and that’s where we’re trying to get this year.”

May’s third scoring scamper came from 34 yards after he ran through a trio of would-be tacklers on the first drive of the third, setting the stage for a running clock. Antons ran in a 29-yard touchdown midway through the third and Jack Latham broke a 37-yard touchdown run a minute into the fourth, with the Irish securing a safety on a high Indians snap into their own endzone as the final play of the game.

There’s plenty of room for improvement over the next eight weeks, but Youngblood was just as pleased with the way the Irish went about their business Saturday as he was the lopsided final score, giving them some momentum to match their Week 2 opponent, Herscher, who will host the Irish Friday after erasing a 24-0 deficit at Canton for a 42-28 win.

“We were not perfect by any means, but we executed some things, we played hard and all phases did some good things,” Youngblood said." ... It’s always good to get that confidence, get a win in the books and now we can move on to the next one.”