Ottawa head coach Chad Gross said over the summer that he wanted his squad to be more physical all over the field, and especially up front.

On Friday night at King Field, the host Pirates (2-0) showed that strength for the second straight week as they rushed for over 300 yards, scored 28 second-quarter points, and eventually captured a fourth straight win over rival Streator (1-1) in the 104th meeting between the programs dating back to 1894.

Ottawa now leads the all-time series 64-38-2.

“Our goal coming into this season was to be more physical than we’ve been in the past,” Gross said. “We’ve switched to a more wing-T offense, switching the ball to more backs, and our o-line has really gotten off the ball well these first two games. We can still throw it when we have to, but I feel like with the guys we have in our o-line we have to take advantage of what they can do.

“These offensive players have bought in. It’s not easy to go from throwing the ball 30 times to saying, ‘Hey, we may only throw a handful of passes.’ They’ve all done a great job.

“I also thought our defense did an excellent job in the first half of not allowing Streator to move the chains. Our special teams also came up with a big play on the fumble.”

After a scoreless first quarter, Ottawa completed a 13-play, 67-yard drive with a 7-yard touchdown run by Archer Cechowicz on the third play of the second to take the lead for good. Lucas Farabaugh added the first of his six PATs to make it 7-0.

After forcing a Streator three-and-out and a short punt, the hosts scored eight plays later on a 3-yard dash from Cechowicz. The Pirates then recovered a Streator fumble on the ensuing kickoff, and Mark Munson hit Owen Sanders for a 17-yard TD strike the following play. The Pirates forced another punt and made it 28-0 at halftime on a 39-yard TD pass from Munson to Andrew Vercolio down the sideline.

“We just weren’t able to stop them in third or fourth down situations,” Streator coach Jay Slone said. “There were a number of times in that first half where we had them in those spots, and they were able to get the yards they needed. Ottawa played a heckuva game.

“I feel like we came out in the second half firing and battled, but we have to clean up a lot of the little things, little mistakes that we made here tonight moving forward.”

Streator scored on the opening possession of the second half as Layzeric Moton returned the kickoff 41 yards to midfield and then caught a 38-yard pass from Sam Lerette to set up the latter’s 1-yard plunge. Moton’s conversion run made it 28-8.

From there, Ottawa scored on a 13-yard run from Munson and a 3-yard run from Wes Weatherford around a Bulldogs punt to make it 42-6.

In the fourth, Lerette tossed a 39-yard scoring pass to Sharonn Morton, while Ottawa’s Jack Pongracz scored on a run from the 7.

Cechowicz (14 carries) and Logan Mills (seven carries) led Ottawa’s 309-yard ground game with 67 yards each, with Weatherford adding 65 yards, Munson 38, and Pongracz 33. Munson finished 6-of-11 for 92 yards.

“Our offensive line really came together as a group over the summer,” Ottawa senior left tackle Evan Paris said. “We had a lot of player-held stuff, just hanging out together and we also all put a ton of work in in the weight room. I think we all feel if we can give our backs a gap that they are going to hit it running hard. We’re ready to go and sick and tired of losing.”

Streator’s Lerette posted 33 yards rushing and 3-of-8 passing for 85 yards, while Leodies Jordan ran 12 times for a tough 28 yards.

Ottawa hosts La Salle-Peru (127th all-time meeting) in a nonconference contest next week. That same night, Streator opens Illinois Central Eight Conference play at Braidwood against Reed-Custer.