Unfortunately, at the end of the play, a Marauders assistant coach was assessed a pair of unsportsmanlike conduct penalties and ejected from the game.

The result, a second-and-11 from the 9-yard line.

Dunkirk actually lost ground after a 21-yard completion.

It was that kind of night for the Marauders.

Dunkirk’s Jareese Gaines looks upfield after securing a catch in Friday’s Class B3 game against Depew at Karl Hoeppner Field. P-J photo by Matt Spielman

Depew led 14-0 after the first quarter and took advantage of four Dunkirk turnovers en route to a 43-14 victory in the Class B3 opener for both teams at a soggy Karl Hoeppner Field.

“No one wants to see the scoreboard that way. We were definitely low on mental discipline today. I think that was the biggest factor in the game,” Dunkirk head coach Edwin Gomez said. ” … We had a lot of mental mistakes and issues that I really didn’t anticipate on the first day.”

The Wildcats marched 65 yards in seven plays for their first score, a 44-yard run by James White, and on the fourth play of the Marauders’ ensuing drive, Depew’s Zach Bridenbaker stripped a Dunkirk runner in the backfield before going 20-plus yards for their second score of the game.

“It was just a matter of not filling our gaps that we were supposed to,” Gomez said when asked about his team’s rush defense in the first half. “We were missing a lot of assignments.”

The Maruaders made it 14-7 early in the second quarter on a 25-yard touchdown run from Kingston Hall, but four plays into Depew’s ensuing drive — after a Dunkirk penalty — Bridenbaker gave the Wildcats a 20-7 lead with an 11-yard touchdown run.

Dunkirk nearly got back in the game late in the second quarter when Aries Cheverez intercepted a Depew pass and returned it 60-plus yards for an apparent touchdown, but an illegal block early in the return nullified the score.

“We were hoping to be down just one touchdown going into the half. You can’t have those mental mistakes with a block in the back when the runner is already 10 yards past,” Gomez said. “That stung. That took a lot of wind out of our sails.”

Two plays into the second half, the Marauders fumbled the ball back over to Depew and on their first play from scrimmage, the Wildcats scored on a Kole Szratter 9-yard keeper to go up 28-7.

With the clock running for the remainder of the game, Dunkirk turned the ball over on downs twice, was intercepted once, had a punt blocked and missed a field goal.

“Depew is a tough team. They continue to be a tough team, but I really think this game got out of hand rather quickly,” Gomez said. “They capitalized on three turnovers that were huge. If you keep the turnovers away, the scoreboard would’ve been a lot different.”

The Marauders’ final possession resulted in a 3-yard touchdown run by Bankoski, but by that point Depew had already added on a 7-yard touchdown run by Jeff Nawojski and a 35-yard dash from Edwin Soto-Martinez to build a 36-point lead.

“We just have to bounce back. It’s going to be a tough game next week against Lackawanna,” Gomez said. “We’re hoping to just keep building. … It’s only Week 1. We can’t write off the entire season. We just have to show up every week and see how we can improve.”

Depew 14 6 23 0 — 43

Dunkirk 0 7 0 7 — 14

Dep–White 44 run (kick failed)

Dep–Bridenbaker 20 fumble return (Refermat pass from Szratter)

Dun–Hall 25 run (McCracken kick)

Dep–Bridenbaker 11 run (pass failed)

Dep–Szratter 9 run (White pass from Szratter)

Dep–Nawojski 7 run (Szratter run)

Dep–Soto-Martinez 35 run (Szratter kick)

Dun–Bankoski 3 run (McCracken kick)