Isaac Hind broke it open at the start of the second half.

The junior running back returned the opening kickoff of the third quarter 99 yards for a touchdown and the Cardinals pulled away from Salamanca for a 40-13 season-opening Class D victory at Veterans Park to spoil Warriors head coach Chad Bartoszek’s return to his alma mater.

Randolph played classic “Cardinals football” primarily utilizing the option to run for 218 yards on 44 carries while its defense surrendered just a pair of fourth-down touchdowns early in the first half.

“Even our good teams in years past, every team struggles with Randolph,” Bartoszek said. “That’s their bread and butter. They are a well-oiled machine.”

The Cardinals’ Ty Hind looks for running room.

The Warriors sent the opening kickoff of the second half over both Randolph return men, and the ball died on the 1-yard line. Hind picked it up, broke an arm tackle around the 5-yard line and burst through the middle of the Salamanca coverage team before racing down the Randolph sideline for a 99-yard score to go up 28-13 just 16 seconds after intermission.

“They hadn’t kicked it past the 25-yard line all night,” Randolph coach Brent Brown said. “They booted it over our head when we moved them up. He kicked it around, and sometimes that’s how that works. Everybody overruns it and he bopped it. That was huge.”

“You outkick your coverage. That’s a tackle at the 1-yard line, down nine points and forcing them go go 99. Instead it’s an absolute gut punch,” Bartoszek said about the game-changing play. “He’s a great athlete who made a great play. That’s a killer.”

The Warriors then failed to convert a fourth down from the 13-yard line and on their next offensive possession, disaster struck as Ty Hind intercepted a Lucas Mckenna pass and trotted 50 yards for another touchdown to give the Cardinals a 34-13 lead.

On its next possession, a Salamanca snap sailed over the punter’s head and Randolph’s Josh Brown recovered the ball on the 2-yard line. One play later, Xander Hind powered in for the final score of the game to make it 40-13.

Randolph’s Xander Hind breaks into the clear.

“I’m proud of our guys. That was a tough game,” Bartoszek said. “It’s a difficult offense to stop when they are chugging along with that option.”

The Cardinals offense methodically marched down the field for two first-half scores and capitalized on a Warriors’ mistake for its other score of the opening 24 minutes.

Randolph’s offensive line shined despite losing Andrew Bernard, Mason Pagett and others to graduation a year ago. Seniors Christian Andrews and Jason Ploetz teamed up with junior Wyatt Adams and freshmen Ryan Carpenter and Jaiden Huntington to control the Salamanca front seven.

“I think we’ll get better every week. … I’m sure they were pretty nervous,” Brown said of his newly formed line. “Some of those kids, the last game they played was Midgets last fall. … They still did a good job.”

The Cardinals went 57 yards in 13 plays on their opening drive with Alex Finch scoring on a 2-yard run to give his team an 8-7 lead after Ty Hind’s 2-point conversion pass to Brown.

Salamanca, which scored on a fourth-down Lucas Mckenna-to-Jarrett Mckenna 34-yard touchdown pass on its first drive of the game, converted on fourth down again to cap its second drive as Lucas Mckenna scrambled 33 yards for a touchdown to make it 16-13.

“We were clicking and executing the things we’ve been doing all summer,” Bartoszek said. “Randolph knows this offense pretty well. They know how to adjust.”

Randolph answered with a 58-yard, 10-play drive that ended in a Ty Hind 1-yard quarterback sneak for a score.

The Warriors had a chance to close the gap on their final drive of the first half, but Isaac Brown dropped what likely would’ve been a 52-yard touchdown pass.

“He got excited. Everbody has dropped those balls in their life. … We aren’t in that game without Isaac,” Bartoszek said. ” … Those are plays that we’ll make throughout the year. We just had one queued up and that was a chance.”

The Cardinals will hope to build upon their win when they host Franklinville/Ellicottville next Friday.

“Our defense is going to have to play for us this year,” Brown said. “The years when we’ve been good we’ve played good defense.”

NOTES: Ty Hind led Randolph with 57 yards on seven carries, Isaac Hind had 55 yards on nine carries, Luke Pagett had 35 yards on seven carries, Finch had 34 yards on six carries and Xander Hind had 25 yards on eight carries. … Lucas Mckenna was 8 for 16 for 145 yards and a touchdown with one interception. … Jarrett Mckenna caught three passes for 44 yards while Lucas Mckenna led Salamanca on the ground with 14 carries for 97 yards. … The Warriors play at Cattaraugus-Little Valley next Friday.

Randolph 8 14 18 0 — 40

Salamanca 7 6 0 0 — 13

Sal — JMckenna 34 pass from LMckenna (Hill kick).

Ran — Finch 2 run (Brown pass from THind).

Ran — IHind 3 run (Pagett run).

Sal — LMckenna 33 run (pass failed).

Ran — THind 1 run (run failed).

Ran — IHind 99 kickoff return (run failed).

Ran — THind 50 interception return (run failed).

Ran — XHind 2 run (kick failed).