The locker rooms at Immanuel Christian were so small that Hatley had to get dressed in shifts Friday night.

At the end of the 60-0 road win to open the season, the Tigers celebrated in shifts as well.

“It's always good to start with a win,” said first-year coach Sam Wilson. “We didn't play nearly as good as we wanted to and didn't execute as well as we wanted to, but it's always good to start with a win.”

Hatley hosts Houlka this week bidding for a 2-0 start. Wilson saw things he liked, but wants to get a few other things straight before Friday.

“They say the most improvement is from game one to game two. I hope it's true,” he said. “We played good at times. Other times we didn't. We're just going to go to work this week and try to get a little better each day and each week.”

The Tigers (1-0) scored nine touchdowns, all on the ground, two from Tyler Edwards on runs of 27 and 3 yards and two from Grant Hawkins on runs of 2 and 3 yards.

“Our run blocking at times was not as aggressive as I'd like to see it,” Wilson said. “We made good decisions in the backfield, some good cuts every once in a while. Occasionally we had good blocking out of the line. Seems like they knew their assignments. The execution at the point of attack is where they struggled. We are going to try to brush up on some things they didn't do well.”

Codi Taylor got Hatley on the board early with a 2 yard run in the first minute of the game. Cory Long's fumble recovery in the end zone made it 26-0 Tigers. Dylan Minor had an interception return for another score and Hatley got runs of 2 and 16 yards from Derrick Hampton and Andrew Gray to close the scoring.

“They were happy, obviously,” Wilson said. “It had been a long time since Hatley opened with a win, regardless of the competition. They were real pleased. Everybody played. That always makes everybody happy.”

As far as the level of competition, 60 points is 60 points and the Tigers are hoping to build on that from week to week.

“I think it's going to help them,” Wilson said. “When you've been down like they've been and lost as many games as they've lost, any success is a confidence builder. Hopefully we can take that and build on it this week.”