BROOKINGS — The Brookings Bobcats had a tremendous team effort, collecting five takeaways on defense and a consistent game on offense in a season-opening 31-0 win over Sturgis at Dana J. Dykhouse Stadium on Friday night.

The victory comes on the heels of a disappointing 1-8 season but after a summer of hard work, head coach Brady Clark believes it was a sweet payoff for his team.

“This is huge for them,” Clark said. “We don’t want to talk about the past but for them to work as hard as they have in the offseason and fall camp and for them to come in tonight for a home opener against a big, tough Sturgis team. I’m just super proud of the boys.”

The Bobcats enjoyed good fortune from the opening kickoff as Dagi Thomas ripped off a long kick return to put Brookings in Scooper territory. Although an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty put the opening drive in jeopardy, the Bobcats recovered and set Will Conrad up for a one-yard touchdown run with 5:46 left in the first quarter.

Sturgis drove into Brookings territory on its opening drive but a deflected pass landed into the arms of Jones Huntimer for the Bobcats’ first takeaway of the night. Two plays later, Gavin Anderson connected with Alex Wainman on a 30-yard touchdown pass to put Brookings ahead 14-0 with 2:33 left in the first quarter.

The floodgates opened from there as Brookings kept taking the ball from the Scoopers. Thomas recovered a fumble that set up a 39-yard field goal by Drew Johnson with 9:23 left in the second quarter and a pair of interceptions including a pick-six by Charlie Bisgard gave the Bobcats a 24-0 lead at halftime.

“They were just flying to the ball,” Clark said of the Bobcats’ four takeaways in the first half. “We preach 11 [guys] to the ball and I think three of those [turnovers] were second guys coming in, getting in there with good drops and good communication. Just playing aggressive, attacking defense.”

Gabe Stern recovered a fumble for the Bobcats’ fifth takeaway of the night and the rest of the evening belonged to the offense. While they had several scoring drives in the first half, the second half was more methodical, working the clock and putting the game away on Conrad’s second touchdown run of the night from five yards out with 10:35 left in the fourth quarter.

“We just needed a little bit of light,” Clark said of the offense. “We needed some positive things to happen and then I knew once it clicked with these guys, once we saw the growth that we’ve been working on all summer…they trusted the process. They saw that light and then it just kind of rolled for us.”

Anderson finished the game with 99 passing yards and an interception for the Bobcats. Conrad led Brookings with 84 rushing yards and a pair of touchdowns on 21 carries. Wainman caught three passes for 47 yards and a touchdown.

Bisgard had five tackles, a forced fumble and a pair of interceptions. Stern had 4.5 tackles including a 0.5 tackle for loss with a forced fumble and a fumble recovery.

Brookings had 212 yards of offense including 136 passing yards and 76 rushing yards. Sturgis was held to 63 total yards with 28 passing yards and 35 rushing yards.

It was a strong start to a new year for Brookings, who will look to improve to 2-0 when they host Mitchell at Dana J. Dykhouse Stadium at 7 p.m. next Friday. But while Clark said some small things could use improvement, he also knows the win was validation for what they went through over the summer and could lead to bigger things.

“This is a great feeling, man,” Clark said. “The boys played awesome. They were focused and we challenged them this week and asked ‘Where’s our effort at?’ Effort leads to confidence, which leads to belief. And they came out focused with that Mamba mentality we talked about in all three phrases, and I’m just super proud of them.”