kang@journalnet.com

ABERDEEN - Aaron Schritter fumed at himself after fumbling a pitch on the opening play of the game to leave Aberdeen pinned on its own 15-yard line.

"I was trying to get my head back in the game," Schritter said. "I was a little worried and kind of upset."

He really didn't have to be.

Aberdeen intercepted the ball on West Side's ensuing drive for the first of its five picks in a 30-7 home victory Friday in the teams' 2A Fifth District opener. The Tigers forced six turnovers altogether that, combined with a blocked punt, resulted in all their scoring drives.

Aberdeen compensated for a heartbreaking 33-32 loss to West Side last year that eventually led to an undefeated conference run and a district crown for the Pirates.

"We were pretty fired up," said Aberdeen quarterback Bo Duffin, who tossed two touchdowns passes. "We've been looking forward to this game forever since last year's loss."

Sophomore Dallas Turnbow started the game under center for the Pirates (2-2 overall, 0-1 2A Fifth District), with starting quarterback Josh Roberts sidelined with a concussion he suffered in their win over Rich County (Utah) the previous week. Turnbow immediately had trouble with Aberdeen's senior-laden defensive unit, which pitched a shutout the previous week against 3A Sugar-Salem.

He threw a pick on Aberdeen's goal line on his second pass of the game. On West Side's next drive, Turnbow was again intercepted, this time by linebacker Trevor Spence, who had two picks and a rushing touchdown.

"I won't blame it on Dallas," West Side coach Lyle Henderson said. "It's just what happens. That's football. Injuries happen. He did the best he could. I think he hung in there and threw some balls very well for us."

Duffin capitalized by firing a 31-yard touchdown strike to Shawn Warren to put Aberdeen (4-0, 1-0) ahead.

The Tigers extended their lead in the second quarter when it blocked a punt and recovered a fumble. The turnovers led to a field goal and a nine-yard touchdown pass from Duffin to Schritter, respectively, on truncated drives.

"It's nice to have the ball and march it down there," Schritter said. "You don't have to worry about keeping them from your goal line and stuff."

The Pirates sliced the deficit to 17-7 in the third quarter, and they briefly threatened when they intercepted Duffin and returned the ball into Tigers territory in the fourth quarter.

But Aberdeen's defense removed all suspense from the game when Schritter picked off Turnbow and returned it 65 yards for a touchdown with 9:52 remaining. Turnbow rolled to the right sideline and attempted a screen pass back to the middle, but Aberdeen had worked on that play several times in practice this week, and Schritter immediately recognized he had to sneak into the backfield to interfere with the play.

"We've been playing awful tough all season," Aberdeen coach Cory Hollingsworth said. "We think our defense is pretty tough."

The statistics sheet from Friday's game validated Hollingsworth's claim. West Side entered Aberdeen's half of the field just five times all game, and the Tigers forced turnovers on three of those trips.

With that defensive effort, the Tigers have swung the tussle for 2A Fifth District supremacy in its favor.

"They're a good enough team that you can't afford to make mistakes like that, throw the ball right to them and so forth," Henderson said. "We had to play a virtually perfect game in order to compete with them, and we didn't do that."