MARYSVILLE, CA (MPG) - The Marysville Indians started their season off in the right way on Friday, August 18 as they held the Woodland Wolves from scoring in a 44-0 victory at War Memorial Stadium in Marysville.

Marysville controlled the game from start to finish as Woodland’s offense was non-existent due to the constant hounding and great defensive reads by the Indians defense. The Wolves competed the game with only 27 yards of total offense.

Marysville head coach Will Claggett told the Dispatch defensively his team played good overall as the front seven played hard and the back end of the defense had good coverage throughout the night.

Whenever you saw Woodland snap the ball, Indians senior running back and defensive end Zion Smith-Brown would be in the mix of the action on making the stop. Claggett added that the game defensively was good overall.

The Marysville offense looks different this year with a ton of new faces in the backfield as the Indians are going to use a lot more players than they did in Claggett’s first year last season.

In the game against Woodland, seven different Indians carried the ball en route to 240 rushing yards on the night. The leading ball carrier for Marysville was junior running back Dennis Syders.

Syders put the Indians up 14-0 in the first quarter as he had a 13 and a nine-yard touchdown rush to start the big victory. Syders expressed that he and his teammates are happy with how the hard work paid off with the teams starting to get ready for the season back in January.

Syders ended the game with three rushing touchdowns along with 11 Carrie’s for 82 yards. On the defensive side of the ball, Syders contributed three tackles. The Indians took a 14-0 lead into the half.

The Marysville defense was alert and didn’t lift an inch to Woodland as they controlled the Wolves all night long. The special team’s unit for the Indians played superb as Smith-Brown caused a safety in the third quarter.

Claggett told the Dispatch that the special teams was one of the best ways for guys to get out on the field and play.

Smith-Brown led Marysville in tackles on the night with five. The Indians had 12 different people make at least one tackle throughout the game and that showed the depth of Claggett, everyone on the defensive side of the ball getting involved. In addition to Smith-Brown, senior defensive tackle Gerald Prescott had five tackles and senior linebacker Bradford Pietz had four tackles.

Prescott and Pietz also blew past the Woodland offense to snag two tackles for loss each.

Other standouts for the Indians offensively included junior running back Vincent Vega who had 54 rushing yards on nine attempts, which included a five-yard touchdown rush in the third quarter to extend the Marysville lead 23-0.

The final two touchdowns of the game were scored in the fourth quarter by junior running back Jackson Love, who is another speed guy that if you allow to get to the corner, he is gone and you can forget about it as he scored on rushes for 29 and 48 yards.

Love finished the night with 106 yards on the ground with four carries.

The Indians had a short week as their next game was this past Thursday, August 24 as they hosted Natomas. Claggett told the Dispatch he expected a tough game as they were also a playoff team last season.

Claggett added the key for Marysville to be successful against Natomas was to get a good week of practice and take care of their bodies.