SACO — Sanford put the ball on the ground to start the game, fumbling the opening kickoff and turning the ball over to Thornton Academy. The Trojans scored two running plays later, but it was through the air that they would do much of their damage, as quarterback Austin McCrum and Co. ran away with a 49-0 victory at Hill Stadium Friday night.

Ben Lambert got the ball rolling for Thornton (1-0), scoring on a jet sweep from 16 yards out to put the Trojans up 7-0 two plays in. Lambert was then on the receiving end of a McCrum 45-yard touchdown pass to finish off an all-passing fourplay drive.

A 35-yard scoring pass from McCrum to Lambert ended the next drive as Thornton led 21-0 after one quarter.

“I think it was just that’s what they were giving us. They were kind of playing a tight man coverage on us. So we were able to take advantage of that,” Thornton head coach Kevin Kezal said of the passing game’s success. “Austin threw the ball well, our receivers made some good catches, but most importantly we got good protection up front to make it go.”

Thornton found success on the ground on its next drive, as Michael Laverriere plunged in from one yard out.

The Trojans needed just one play on their next drive, as Ethan Wiggan was on the receiving end of a 67-yard touchdown pass from McCrum.

“We’ve watched them rip apart zone defenses, we’ve watched them rip apart man defenses, so you got to hang your hat on something,” Sanford head coach Mike Fallon said of trying to defend the pass. “We tried to do some matchups, we played some aggressive man defense hoping that maybe there was a little bit of ball inaccuracy or maybe we could get some pressure. He just threw it in places that it’s almost not defendable.”

Laverriere rumbled in from five yards out to put TA up 42-0, then Lambert caught a McCrum 33-yard pass to end the scoring with less than 30 seconds remaining in the first half.

“That was a matchup that we liked. Ben had a great night tonight,” Kezal said of Lambert.

While the Spartans (0-1) didn’t get the ball to start, they did have their best offensive series on their first drive. The series was highlighted by a 54-yard run by Zach Kang to get into TA territory, but a 15-yard unsportsmanlike conduct penalty pushed Sanford back and the Spartans couldn’t get close enough to score.

“That’s football. Things happen. You practice like crazy for three weeks and things happen,” said Fallon. “The floodgates broke fast.”

The Trojans outgained Sanford 453-176, including 412 total yards for TA in the first half. McCrum finished 12-of-17 for 338 yards and four touchdowns. Lambert caught three of those and gained 200 yards on eight catches.

Sanford’s Frankie Veino was 9-of-18 passing for 57 yards and Pete Hegarty ran nine times for 25 yards.

“Like I told the kids, the season’s a marathon, it’s not a sprint. It was a rough first week, but the good news is it’s just the first week. We came out of it healthy, and we’re going to go back to work and try to get better and go from there,” said Fallon.

— Sports Staff Writer Wil Kramlich can be contacted at 282-1535, ext. 323 or [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @WilTalkSports.