Big Walnut’s David Hunt powered into the end zone from a yard out to make it 7-all, but visiting Mansfield Senior controlled things the rest of the way en route to a 35-7 non-league win to open the season Friday night in Sunbury.
The Tygers scored the only points of the first quarter when Brian Benson sprinted in from 36 yards out one play after the Golden Eagles fumbled the ball away.
Hunt’s one-yard TD run made it 7-7 at the 2:18 mark of the second quarter, but Big Walnut never made it back into the end zone.
Mansfield Senior answered the score in a hurry, taking the lead for good when Benson turned a screen pass from quarterback Sid Caudill into a 75-yard touchdown to go up 14-7 with 1:50 left in the half.
The Tygers added to their lead when Tresuan Windham intercepted a pass from Golden Eagle QB John Sutton and returned it 26 yards to the house less than two minutes into the third quarter.
A five-yard TD run from Alamar Grose made it 28-7 with 5:52 left in the third and a 20-yard scoring run from Benson late in the fourth smoothed out the scoring summary.
Big Walnut returns to action Friday against host Worthington Kilbourne.
