Looking back, three hours of game action may have done more to arouse the Bishop Ludden football team than three weeks of practice. The scary nature of the Gaelic Knights’ season-opening 38-28 win at Canastota – where it actually trailed going to the fourth quarter – served as a harsh reminder that Ludden could not simply walk on the field and expect an easy win. Properly focused, the Gaelic Knights worked hard in advance of Friday’s home opener against Onondaga – then proceeded to work over the Tigers in a frightening way. No suspense here, just a Ludden team scoring at will against an overwhelmed OCS defense and only letting up when the reserves showed up in the second half of a 53-8 rout. It helped that Ludden got the first possession. Taking just six plays, the Gaelic Knights went 65 yards, and quarterback John Rooney ran the final six yards into the end zone. Ludden’s defense set up the next score when Matt Rogers picked off an OCS pass and returned it to the Tigers’ 42. Just four plays later, Omar Osbourne converted on an eight-yard run, and it was quickly 14-0. The game wasn’t even nine minutes old when Rooney, from the Tigers’ 32, found Mark DeAngelis for his third TD of the season, and it was 21-0 going into the second quarter, where the points just kept coming. Rooney, who completed seven of nine passes for 133 yards, hit DeAngelis again on 29-yard scoring strike, then ran 11 yards for another score and capped off his big half by finding E.J. Beauford on a 34-yard TD pass just before halftime. The presence of Osbourne, who had 102 yards on eight carries, occupied the OCS defense so much that it might not have noticed Mike Samora, who broke loose for a 56-yard touchdown run. All told, it meant a 46-0 halftime lead, and a chance for the starters to rest much of the second half – but not before Samora scored for the second time, on an 18-yard run in the third period. Vastly improved in this game, Ludden’s defense will get a stiff test when the Gaelic Knights visit Tully this Friday night at 7 p.m. in a showdown for first place in Class C West. The Black Knights, like Ludden, are 2-0, having just rolled past Jordan-Elbridge 52-19 behind Mike Courtwright, who burned the Eagles for five touchdowns. Tully has scored 96 total points in those two wins, so it may take a lot of trips to the end zone to win here.