Forest Park’s Tommy Showers scores a touchdown while holding off Carney-Nadeau’s Beau Koffman on Thursday, Aug. 30, 2018, in Crystal Falls, Mich. (Adam Niemi/Iron Mountain Daily News)

CRYSTAL FALLS — Forest Park opened with an explosive performance in the first quarter of a 72-26 win over Carney-Nadeau on Thursday.

CJ Post led the Trojans’ ground attack with one touchdown and 156 yards on 16 carries.

The Trojans went back to basics after falling hard to Superior Central in a 46-24 loss last week.

“I thought we sharpened up a little bit, especially our line play. Last week, as a coaching staff, we expected too much from a young group that wasn’t ready,” Forest Park head coach Dave Graff said. “We fell apart. That was a reflection on me as far as a coach. We just took a step back and simplified and did what we do best. We made sure we were talking to understand who’s got who. The offensive line was the key to the victory. Hal Hoenig, Timmy Bendick and even Jacob Peterson at center did a real nice job. They did a real nice job blocking. Kudos to them.”

Carney-Nadeau (0-2) scored a minute and a half after the Trojans’ opening score. Beau Koffman caught a 43-yard pass from Max Baumler.

Evan Hedtke rushed for two touchdowns and returned a 55-yard interception early in the second quarter to boost the Trojans.

Tommy Peltoma rushed 94 yards on 11 carries while also throwing 5 for 5 for 58 yards and a touchdown.

Tommy Showers caught a 24-yard pass about eight minutes after Hedtke’s interception return.

Forest Park led 56-6 at halftime. But the Wolves didn’t lay down.

However, Carney-Nadeau was part of its own undoing in the first quarter. On the Wolves’ first drive, penalties on successive third downs killed the drive. Then, Forest Park blocked the punt and scored soon after.

“I told them we can’t play behind the sticks,” Carney-Nadeau head coach Jim Belec said. “Once you start playing behind the sticks you make it harder on yourself. Our playbook doesn’t go third-and-20. Things just snowballed after that.”

Carney-Nadeau punted, scored a touchdown and threw an interception on the remaining first-quarter drives.

“We keep on starting off slow,” Belec said. “They jumped on us 16-0. We came back 16-6 and it seemed like the wheels fell off again. We gotta get over that as we grow.”

Forest Park added 24 points in the second quarter to further quiet the atmosphere on Forest Park’s Parents’ Night.

Carney-Nadeau’s Brett LaFord scored on a 66-yard run in the third quarter. In the fourth quarter, he ran two more scores for 61 yards and nine runs, respectively.

The Trojans (1-1) gained 418 yards of offense including 360 rushing and 58 passing.

“I saw CJ Post getting momentum. He’s one of those kids that once he gets the legs going and chewing up the yards, he gets more confidence,” Graff said of Post in the first quarter. “With him running strong and line blocking and Tommy Peltoma in the mix, I think we had a nice one-two punch. The kids responded.”

Carney-Nadeau gained 362 yards of offense including 236 rushing and 126 passing.

Graff said getting game speed experience to the team has been a challenge in practice without enough kids to scrimmage.

“You don’t get a look that’s sharpening you up for a game,” Graff said about the lack of scrimmaging offense against defense. “So you get to the game and we don’t start off well. That’s because we haven’t had that game speed in practice all week. That’s something we have to deal with as coaches and get prepared. At the end of the season I think we’ll be OK. At the beginning of the season when you have young kids, you have to get them the repetition they need before they’re gonna be good.”

The Trojans host Pickford next week while Carney-Nadeau is at Rapid River.

Carney-Nadeau 6 0 6 14 — 26

Forest Park 32 24 8 8 — 72

First Quarter

FP — Post 10 run (2-point conversion), 8:01

FP — Showers 6 pass from Peltoma (2-point conversion), 4:31

CN — Koffman 43 pass from Baumler (2-pt failed), 3:10

FP — Hedtke 8 run (2-pt conversion), 0:53

FP — Hedtke 7 run (2-pt conversion), 0:14

Second Quarter

FP — Hedtke 55 interception return (2-pt conversion), 10:22

FP — Showers 24 pass from Peltoma (2-pt conversion), 2:57

FP — Peltoma 5 run (2-pt conversion), 0:23

Third Quarter

FP — Peltoma 1 run (2-pt conversion), 7:14

CN — LaFord 66 run (2-pt failed), 0:38

Fourth Quarter

CN — LaFord 61 run (Baumler kick failed), 9:23

FP — Scarlassara 9 run (2-pt conversion), 4:06

CN — LaFord 9 run (2-pt conversion), 1:00

Individual Statistics

Rushing — Post 16-156, Peltoma 11-94, Hedtke 8-43, Showers 4-50, Rintala 1-3, Scarlassara 3-14.

Passing — Peltoma 5-5-1-58.

Receiving — Showers 4-56, Hoenig 1-2.