OTTAWA — Each team’s opening possession set the tone in Friday’s Kishwaukee River/Interstate 8 crossover game between Harvard and Ottawa.

The Hornets recorded a first down on the opening drive of the game, but were forced to punt from their 37. The Pirates then put together a 16-play, 83-yard drive that chewed up more than nine minutes of clock and ended with QB Colby Mortenson finding Weston Averkamp for a 2-yard TD pass.

Over the rest of the opening half, the Pirates forced two more punts, stopped the visitors on downs and registered a pick six while scoring TDs on a pair of possessions and getting a 35-yard field goal from Cam Loomis to eventually wrap up a 38-8 victory at King Field to improve to 2-1.

[ Photos: Ottawa vs Harvard in Week 3 of football ]

“Coming off a rivalry game like we were after Streator last week, you never know how the kids are going to come out in the following week’s game,” Ottawa coach Chad Gross said. “I thought we came out and played a very solid, mistake-free first half, which I couldn’t be happier about. The second half we had some issues we need to clean up, but I felt like the first two possessions, theirs and ours, set the tone for the game.

“This was another nice win for us to get.”

Mortenson finished 13 of 17 passing for 189 yards and three scores. The hosts also received 92 yards on 16 carries from Ryder Miller and 70 on 10 from Archer Cechowicz to go along with his four catches for 28 yards. Averkamp finished with three receptions for 60 yards, and Owen Sanders two for 31.

Ottawa held an advantage in first downs (16-8) and total yards (396-153).

“We had a couple starters out on defense, but the kids that stepped in did a great job,” Gross said. “Colby was very efficient throwing the ball, our receivers did a great job, Ryder and Archer ran hard, and the O-line was consistent in getting pushes.”

“Right off the snap he started my way, but I was able to get up field before he could get to me. Then found the ball in the air and was able to get my hands on it and take it in. It was pretty exciting.”

—  Garrett Cupples, Ottawa senior defensive back on his 10-yard interception return for a touchdown.

After Miller’s 1-yard plunge and Loomis’ PAT boot made it 14-0 past the midway point of the second quarter, Pirates senior cornerback Garrett Cupples picked off a pass from Harvard QB Adam Cooke at the Hornets’ 10 for an easy return TD.

“(Harvard’s) slot wide receiver was staring at me, so I had a pretty good idea he was going to come try and block me for a tunnel screen,” said Cupples, who also had an interception return TD at Harvard last season. “Right off the snap he started my way, but I was able to get up field before he could get to me. Then found the ball in the air and was able to get my hands on it and take it in. It was pretty exciting.

“We had worked on that play in practice, so I have to give credit to our coaches for having me in the right spot to make that play.”

Ottawa made it 28-0 with over a minute left in the first half on a Mortenson-to-Miller 50-yard pitch and score before Loomis split the uprights on the aforementioned field goal. Mortenson then hit Sanders from 17 yards out midway into the third quarter.

Harvard scored its final time with the ball as Cooke, who finished with 93 yards on 12 carries and 47 yards passing, completed an eight-play drive with a 1-yard scamper with just over three minutes to play.

“We have three seniors that play and a bunch of sophomores and freshmen as well, so it’s hard to win varsity football games with 14-year-olds,” said Harvard coach Brad Swanson, whose team fell to 0-3. “But with that said, we’re coaching them up, they are coming to practice with smiles on their faces, and they are doing their best to improve from week to week. I really felt we got better this week, and sure the scoreboard says what it says, but I thought tonight was heads-and-shoulders better than our first two weeks.

“This is Adam’s first year of football, and he is a student of the game, but he knows he has to get better, and he will. Our line play struggled tonight, but on the flip side, both sides of Ottawa’s line is pretty tough to push around.”

Each team has home games next week. Ottawa hosts Sycamore, and Harvard entertains Rochelle.

BOXSCORE

King Field, Ottawa

Ottawa 38, Harvard 8

Harvard (0-3) 0 0 0 8 — 8

Ottawa (2-1) 7 24 7 0 — 38

Scoring by quarter

First quarter

O — Weston Averkamp 2 pass from Colby Mortenson (Cam Loomis kick), 1:04, 7-0

Second quarter

O — Ryder Miller 1 run (Cam Loomis kick), 4:36, 14-0

O — Garrett Cupples 10 interception return (Cam Loomis kick), 3:37, 21-0

O — Ryder Miller 50 pass from Colby Mortenson (Cam Loomis kick), 1:31, 28-0

O — Cam Loomis 35 field goal, 0:00, 31-0

Third quarter

O — Owen Sanders 17 pass from Colby Mortenson (Cam Loomis kick), 5:10, 38-0

Fourth quarter

H — Adam Cooke 1 run (Adam Cooke run), 3:16, 38-8

Team statsistics

Harvard Ottawa

Total plays: 38 55

First downs: 8 16

Rushes-Yards: 23-106 38-207

Passing yards: 47 189

Total offense: 153 396

Comp-Att-Int.: 3-15-1 13-17-0

Third downs: 2-of-8 7-of-10

Fourth downs: 0-of-1 1-of-1

Fumbles-Lost: 0-0 2-0

Penalties-Yards: 3-25 5-59

Punts-Avg.: 4-37.8 1-29.0

Time of possession: 16:40 31:20

Individual statistics

RUSHING – Harvard: Adam Cooke 12-93 (TD), Edward Rosales 6-9, Blake Livdahl 1-3, Angel Deleon 2-0, Daniel Rosas 2-1. Ottawa: Ryder Miller 16-92 (TD), Archer Cechowicz 10-70, Keevon Peterson 4-20, Colby Mortenson 5-13, Mark Munson 1-9, Tristan Finley 2-3.

PASSING (C-A-TD-INT-YD) – Harvard: Adam Cooke 3-15-0-1-47. Ottawa: Colby Mortenson 13-17-3-0-189.

RECEIVING – Harvard: Daniel Rosas 2-37, Logan Nulle 1-10. Ottawa: Cechowicz 4-28, Weston Averkamp 3-60 (TD), Owen Sanders 2-31 (TD), Tristan Finley 2-11, Ryder Miller 1-50 (TD), Hayden Swett 1-9.

INTERCEPTIONS – Harvard: none. Ottawa: Garrett Cupples (TD).