As far as season-openers go, things could not have worked out much better for Aberdeen Roncalli.

The Cavaliers recorded a trifecta Friday night at Dacotah Bank Stadium: a shutout on defense, a potent ground game on offense, and a measure of revenge against a long-time rival in a 38-0 Northeast Conference football victory over Groton.

“It felt really good,” said Roncalli senior Maddox May of the win over the Tigers. “We’ve been waiting to beat them for a few years now, so we finally got them.”

May had his footprints all over the triumph. He finished with 153 yards on 19 carries, including a 38-yard touchdown run in the final quarter to put the exclamation point on the win.

“I wasn’t sure if I was going to get there,” May said, “but I made a few cuts, got around a couple of people and I was in there.”

May did nearly all of his damage gaining chunk yards with punishing runs up the middle.

That ground game was by design.

“We put a lot of pride into being able to run the ball between the tackles. We work extremely hard at doing that and that’s what makes our offense go,” said Roncalli coach Billy Young. “I felt like maybe at times we were a little too cute in the passing game with my play calling trying to work on some stuff, but when we needed to move the ball between the tackles, for the most part we were able to. For the first game, that’s a really good sign.”

Jackson Isakson gave Roncalli the only points it would need on a quarterback sneak in the opening quarter.

Abe Kretchman added a 20-yard TD run in the second quarter before May scored his first touchdown of the contest to give the Cavaliers a 20-0 lead at halftime.

Isakson booted a 37-yard field goal in the third period and Andrew Brennan scored the game’s final TD on a 51-yard punt return.

Meanwhile, the Roncalli defense bottled up the Tigers all night long.

“I think we just prepared well for this game,” said Roncalli senior lineman Brendan Livermont. “We’ve been looking forward to this game ever since last year.”

The Cavaliers spent a good share of the game in the Groton backfield or clogging up holes on the line as the Tigers (who were without starting quarterback Lane Tietz) were unable to cross midfield until the final minute of the contest.

“We use a lot of movement up front with our defensive line, slanting and things like that,” Young said. “Coach (Dan) Gallagher had a great game plan. He kind of started on this way back in the spring.”

The players definitely bought into that game plan and the results were evident.

“Our defense came out and played hard,” May said. “We all knew our assignments, stuck to them and that’s how we shut them out.”

Roncalli now heads to Clear Lake on Friday for a contest against Deuel. The Cavaliers edged the Cardinals in overtime a year ago.

“They’re going to be tough,” Young said. “We knew going in the first two games were going to be two of our hardest.”

The Cavaliers passed their first test with flying colors and built some solid momentum moving forward.

“I think everyone is really excited,” Livermont said of the mood of the players. “We’re all just trying to get to the (Dakota) Dome at the end of the year.”

Groton (0-1) 0 0 0 0 – 0

Aberdeen Roncalli (1-0) 6 14 3 15 – 38

First Quarter

AR – Jackson Isakson 1 run (kick failed), 6:15.

Second Quarter

AR – Abe Kretchman 20 run (Zane Backous pass from Isakson), 6:05.

AR – Maddox May 9 run (pass failed), 2:39.

Third Quarter

AR – Isakson 37 field goal, 1:30.

Fourth Quarter

AR – May 38 run (Isakson kick), 4:54.

AR – Andrew Brennan 51 punt return (May pass from Kretchman), 3:07.

OFFENSE: Groton rushing 28-22 (Keegen Tracy 2-26, Korbin Kucker 12-5), passing 4-12-1 for 10 (Kucker 4-12-1 for 10), receiving (Tate Larson 1-7 Colby Dunker 1-5), first downs 3; Aberdeen Roncalli rushing 36-203 (May 19-153, Kretchman 5-44, Isakson 5-16, Brennan 1-9), passing 6-17-1 for 75 (Isakson 6-16-1 for 75), receiving (Aidan Fischer 1-31, Keegan Stewart 1-20, Austin Meyers 2-11, Kretchman 1-9, Abe Holscher 1-4), first downs 15.

DEFENSE: Groton, Christian Ehresmann 10 tackles, Teylor Diegel 5 tackles, Dunker 4 tackles, Tracy 3 tackles and interception; Aberdeen Roncalli, Zane Backous 5 tackles including one sack, Kretchman 4 tackles and fumble recovery, Brendan Livermont 3 tackles including one sack, Phillip Zens 3 tackles.