The first victory of the young season came in easy fashion Friday night for the White River Hornets, who lambasted Highline High 55-6.

The victory came under the lights of Highline Stadium in Burien and allowed White River to improve to 1-1 in nonleague play. The Hornets had lost to neighboring Enumclaw High in the season opener.

With a full head of steam, White River opens South Puget Sound League 2A play Friday evening, taking on the Washington Patriots at Franklin Pierce Stadium. The Patriots are off to a sorry start, particularly on the defensive side of the ball, having given up 120 points in eight quarters of action.

White River had no problem scoring points against Highline and did so in a variety of ways. In coach Joe Sprouse’s run-first offense, four Hornets had touchdowns on the ground: doing the honors were Keenan Fagan, Tristan Knaus, Johnathan Valdez and David Voss. Another touchdown came through the air, when Ryan Ritchie hit Alex McMillen on a 9-yard strike. Dustin France returned an interception 62 yards for a score and Fagan found the end zone twice on punt returns, once from 41 yards and once from 40.

France was good on seven of his eight extra-point kicks to round out the Hornet scoring.

Being on the short end of a lopsided score was nothing new for Highline; the Pirates had opened their season a week earlier by absorbing a 48-0 loss to Yelm.