When Sterling wasn’t finding the end zone, it was in Chicago Urban Prep’s backfield during the first half of Friday’s 47-0 win at Prescott Memorial Field.

The Golden Warriors (1-1) held the Lions (0-2) to negative-36 yards before the break in their home opener.

Sterling scored all 47 points in the first half as it took advantage of turnovers and short fields as the Lions struggled.

“We’ve got a lot of playmakers on defense,” Sterling starting quarterback Brady Berlin said. “I’m very happy with how they played. We’ve got to do it again next week.”

Berlin finished 5 of 7 passing with touchdown passes to Koltyn Chapman, Quincy Maas, and Vitor Polo.

Wyatt Cassens had a strip sack, a rushing touchdown, and five tackles to go with 30 yards rushing before the backups took over.

Deseo Ibarra-Castillo tackled the opposing ball carrier for a safety that made it 16-0 in the first quarter. Kicker Ryan Gebhardt helped Sterling win the field position battle as he had five touchbacks, adding a 20-yard field goal.

Berlin said getting off to a good start was key following last week’s loss to Metamora.

“It was really important after last week’s bad game,” he said. “It really brought the vibes up.”

Gavin Terrock also played under center for Sterling, throwing scores to Kameron Gibson and Ibarra-Castillo. Gibson, Polo, Isaac Ibarra and Ethan Todd all had interceptions for Sterling. Polo led the team with 10 tackles.

Sterling coach Jonathan Schlemmer said the team learned from the loss to Metamora.

“That’s the important part of high school football, is making a jump and righting your wrongs and trying to fix things,” he said. “I think our kids were receptive to that and I thought they did a good job tonight.”

Although the Lions struggled to move the ball, Sterling still did a good job of containing their speed in the first half. Sterling held Urban Prep to 19 yards and seven first downs in the shutout.

Eight players carried the ball for Sterling, which finished with 150 yards on the ground. Brady McCray led the way with 46 yards thanks to a 44-yard scamper.

Nine different players also caught passes for Sterling.

“I think we can spread it around, get it to different guys all over the place,” Schlemmer said. “It was nice to see different guys get in the end zone and make plays.”

Sterling has to be even sharper next week as it opens Western Big 6 Conference play against Moline, one of the favorites in the conference. Moline won last year’s matchup 45-31.

“They’re good, they’re physical and they run the ball so hard,” Schlemmer said. “Formationally, they do so many things. And defensively, they’re always so sound.

“It’s going to be a physical football game.”