On the fourth play from scrimmage in Friday's season-opener against Marcus at Clark Stadium, Plano West senior quarterback Travis Korry connected with senior Connor Doyle for 70-yard touchdown pass down the right sideline to put the Wolves in front, 7-0.

It was just the beginning of a first-quarter onslaught for West.

The Wolves would tack on touchdowns of 70 and 51 yards in the period and amassed 294 yards of offense in the first en route to a 35-25 victory over the Marauders.

"When you can get a win against a team like Marcus, you have to feel good about it," said Mike Hughes, Plano West head coach. "We're pleased with that. We started out real strong offensively and that was great to see. But then we kind of slowed down and had too many mistakes and too many foolish penalties. We have to go back and look at the video and eliminate those mistakes. If we do that, we'll be pretty good."

Korry finished with 169 yards passing and a score to go with 96 rushing yards -- including a 51-yard touchdown run -- on nine carries, while sophomore running back Sotonya Jamabo racked up 153 yards on seven attempts to lead the West offense. After scoring from 75 yards out on his second carry of the game, Jamabo reeled off runs of 27 and 24 yards on a drive late in the fourth to set up a 2-yard touchdown drive by junior Auston Anderson to seal the win.

"[Jamabo] is a good player," Hughes said. "He's just a sophomore and has a chance to be one of the best backs in the state. And I like Auston Anderson, too. You saw what he could do last year. We feel good about our backs and quarterback. We want to be balanced and get carries to everyone and be balanced in our passing attack."

Marcus, meanwhile, falls to 0-1 following a chaotic week leading up to the opener. On Thursday, the Marauders learned junior starting quarterback Cole Erwin was out with an ACL injury. Suddenly, sophomore receiver and brother Cade Erwin was thrust into the starting spot.

But the change at quarterback didn't alter Marcus' -- traditionally a power-running team -- plans to be balanced. Erwin converted 21-of-36 passes for 207 yards, including 15 completions for 150 yards and a touchdown to senior receiver Logan Sepanek.

"[The injury] really didn't change a whole lot to be honest" said Bryan Erwin, Marcus head coach. "We went in with the same plan and we knew Cade would step up and he did. I thought he played outstanding. I thought we did some good things on offense. I really did. We just put ourselves in a big hole."

Marcus was nearly able to crawl out of that early hole but cost itself on special teams. The Marauders missed a pair of extra points, failed on a 2-point conversion and had a snap sail over the head of their punter and into the end zone resulting in a touchdown for West following a recovery by senior Collin Eberle on the first possession of the second half.

"We're young and we have to get better in every phase," Bryan said. "You know, we're snapping the ball over the punter's head and gave up a free touchdown. You can't win games like that. But nobody in state works harder than we do on special teams. We had a sophomore deep snapper and it was his first time under the lights. He came back and responded. We just have to learn from this and move on."

The Marauders had previously seized the momentum entering the break when Erwin scored on a 1-yard sneak as time expired in the first half to cut the 21-6 deficit to 21-13. Erwin also scored on a 14-yard run up the middle midway through the fourth to bring Marcus within three at 28-25 and finished with 40 yards on eight carries. Junior Mark Demery led the Marauders with 96 yards on 28 carries.

"Marcus is as good as it gets at just lining up and running the ball," Hughes said. "You have to stay low and make good tackles. I'll have to take a look at the film and hopefully we did a better job than we did last week in the scrimmage. I think we did."

Marcus looks to bounce back at 7:30 p.m. Friday against Arlington Martin at UTA's Maverick Stadium.

"We grew up today," Erwin said. "I was proud of our defense. We gave up three home runs the first three drives and they responded and got better. We had some guys out with cramps and concussions and all kinds of things and they just fought hard. We gave everything we had and [West] just had a bit more."

The Wolves look to keep rolling at the same time at Lake Highlands.

"We're going to continue to try to establish run," Hughes said. "If we can run it, and stop the run on defense, then we'll do well. We're going to celebrate this right now and we'll start looking at Lake Highlands tomorrow after lunch."

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