RUSSELLVILLE - From the start of their opening drive against Russellville, the Greyhounds were on the move.
Sweet Springs scored on four of their six drives in the opening half, and added an interception return for a touchdown, to help build an insurmountable lead against the Indians in a matchup between district foes Friday night, winning 45-6.
The Greyhounds took a 24-6 lead into halftime, then added another three touchdowns in the second half.
Sweet Springs' opening drive started quickly, gaining 13 yards on the first two plays before a 43-yard designed quarterback keeper from Zapher Lee put the Greyhounds just outside the red zone.
Two plays later, Cole Lovercamp leaped through the line of scrimmage for the first touchdown of the game with 8:50 left in the first quarter.
Sweet Springs' defense forced consecutive punts, while the Indians caused a turnover on downs, before the Greyhounds put together a nine-play, 64-yard drive for a touchdown, capped with a 6-yard Blake Schroeder run up the middle.
The Greyhounds forced another punt and took advantage of a short-field opportunity with their following drive starting at the Indians' 20.
After three plays, Noah Fogerty connected on a 31-yard field goal attempt to put Sweet Springs up 17-0 with 9:07 to go before halftime.
On the ensuing Indians' drive, a fourth-down passing attempt led to a Seth Rader 55-yard pick-6.
"When we executed well, we had some nice plays and some long runs," Russellville coach Tim Rulo said. "We need to avoid turnovers, but that was just me forcing it. Nothing on our players, I was feeling pressure on the play calls."
The Indians were able to shift momentum their way on the following drive, using 12 plays to move the ball 80 yards and get on the board.
Jesse Daniel got the drive moving with a third-down pass to Josiah Herman for 16 yards, then connected with Herman again for another 10 yards three plays later.
Daniel then found Landen Waggoner on a stop route, and Waggoner broke through multiple tackles before sprinting down the home sideline for 42 yards, leaving the Indians at the Greyhounds' 17.
Three plays later, Alex Oligschlaeger took a sweep to the left and weaved his way through the defense for a six-yard touchdown with 2:51 left before the half.
"When we execute well, when we do what we're supposed to do, we look pretty good." Rulo said.
The Greyhounds scored on the opening drive of the second half, ending with a fourth-and-19 conversion from Lee to Lovercamp for a 21-yard touchdown.
Lovercamp then intercepted a Russellville pass at the Greyhounds' 35 and returned it 65 yards for a touchdown to put Sweet Springs up 38-6 with 5:25 left in the third.
Sweet Springs added one more score to open the fourth quarter when Lee took a keeper 11 yards to cap an 11-play 49-yard drive.
"The best thing was our growth, we're still a young team, but I saw some awesome highlights of our guys learning to make plays," Rulo said. "Of course, there were times when our youth showed, but there were so many highlights of good things that these guys did."
Russellville (1-1) goes to Hillsboro to face Grandview in a 2 p.m. matchup Saturday, Sept. 18.