FALMOUTH — Falmouth High went all out for the start of a new era of football on Friday night.

A pregame tailgate drew a big crown, there’s a new layer of turf on the stadium field, and a shrill foghorn welcomed the team and celebrated Navigators touchdowns.

Joey Guerrette scored an early touchdown and Gio Guerrette scored late, and Falmouth rode a smothering defense to a 14-0 win over Cheverus in its opener.

And the Navigators believe the best is yet to come.

“Our effort tonight was great,” said Spencer Emerson, Falmouth’s first-year coach. “The kids played super hard. I wasn’t sure when I got here how many games we’d win, but I knew our effort would be through the roof.”

Cheverus began the game with a promising drive, reaching the Falmouth 21. A penalty and loss of yardage forced the Stags to punt and it went just 2 yards, setting up the Navigators at their 26.

Falmouth put together a 10-play, 74-yard drive to take the lead.

The Navigators got a 10-yard run from senior workhorse back Indi Backman, a 17-yard pass from Tres Walker to Gio Guerrette and a 16-yard run by Walker on the drive. With 2:40 left in the first, Walker hit Joey Guerrette out of the backfield for a 10-yard touchdown.

“That first score was big for momentum,” said Backman. “If you come out hard, you finish hard.”

Cheverus quarterback Colby Ross was injured playing defense and his night ended early.

Cheverus could do little behind backup quarterback Will Baker, a freshman, the rest of the first half, losing 15 yards on its final three series. The Navigators couldn’t capitalize. Walker was sacked on back-to-back drives by Devin Kelly, who forced a fumble on the second sack.

Falmouth finally put it away late in the second half.

After a scoreless third quarter, the Navigators marched 60 yards in 10 plays, chewing up almost five minutes. They doubled their lead with 8:30 remaining when Gio Guerrette took a reverse handoff and dashed into the end zone from 19 yards.

“It’s my senior year and I just love football,” said Guerrette. “It was just running hard, seeing a gap and taking it. It felt amazing to score a touchdown.”

Backman rushed for 121 yards on 21 carries, helping the Navigators run out the clock.

“I love doing my work,” Backman said. “I know my job on this team.”

“Indi is just a man-child,” added Emerson. “I told him at halftime, ‘We’re going to win the ballgame if you decide to win us the ballgame’ and he did. We’ll lean on him. He understands what it takes.”

The Stags, in new coach Skip Capone’s debut, managed 26 yards but hung tough despite the adversity and got a terrific defensive effort from Kelly.

“I love the way our kids battled the whole night,” said Capone. “I love the way we played defense. This easily could have been a lot worse.

“We’ve got some things we need to correct. It’s a good thing we have a long week and we get to play at home (against Massabesic).”