The Paris offense picked up where it left off from last week.

While last week was a 33-13 loss to Grandview, the Coyotes scored two touchdowns in the second half of that game and scored all of their points in the first half of Friday’s 36-0 win at Missouri Military Academy.

Quarterback Leo Bounds followed his two touchdown passes in Week 1 with two against the Colonels, going 5-for-7 for 89 yards with no interceptions, hitting Walter Rucker and Colton Kendrick on two 20-yard scores.. Gatlin Fountain ran for 69 yards on 10 carries, and Drew Williams had 48 yards on eight carries and a touchdown. Kendrick caught three passes, including a touchdown, for 50 yards while adding a rushing touchdown on a jet sweep.

On defense, Fountain had a team-high seven tackles with an interception, and Brandon Callison finished with six tackles and another of the Coyote defense’s four interceptions.

Head coach Joseph Utterback’s night was special as it was his first win as a head coach after spending five years as an assistant in Paris before being hired to replace 11-year head coach and current athletic director Gary Crusha.

“It means a lot to me personally to have my first win as head coach in the town my whole family’s from,” Utterback said. “Really, the focus is on our kids. They had an outstanding game in all three phases.”

The Coyote defense and special teams contributed to Paris working with short fields much of the night in MMA’s home opener. When the offensive unit took over, the big guys were leading the charge, Utterback said, and helped collect 255 yards of total offense.

He said the offensive line is more experienced this season with seniors such as Owen Totten – who had a safety on defense and five tackles for loss – moving there from running back. When the Coyotes took the lead in the first half, Utterback had a message for them.

“I told the O-line, ‘We’re going to put it in your hands,’” Utterback said. “‘We put you guys here for a reason.’ We wanted to put some leadership on our O-line. Those kids, man they had a fantastic couple of drives there so we’re proud of those guys up front.”

Paris (1-1) returns home Friday for its Lewis and Clark Conference opener against also district foe Salisbury (1-1), who won 66-6 at Carrollton in Week 2. Utterback said he has some connection to the current Panthers, specifically head coach Oren Magruder.

“Their head coach, he was actually a teammate of mine in high school,” Utterback said. “We know they’re running the air raid, and we know they got some big guys up front.”