Branden Francis couldn’t contain his excitement on the sideline after Frewsburg beat Holley 42-28 in 8-man football Thursday evening.

The Bears junior lineman had reason to be ecstatic.

Frewsburg racked up 529 yards of offense, including 457 on the ground.

The Bears held the Red Hawks to 111 yards, including negative-8 on the ground, and sacked Holley quarterback Destin Kuyal five times.

Frewsburg’s Chase Haglund looks for room to run during Thursday’s 8-man football game against Holley in Frewsburg. P-J photo by Matt Spielman

Frewsburg scored on its first three possessions of the game, including its opening touchdown just 55 seconds into the game.

It was a complete effort for Coach Rob Collver’s team, which improved to 3-0 on the season just days after being ranked No. 9 by the New York State Sportswriters Association.

“We just needed to play Frewsburg football,” junior quarterback Trent Lewis said. “In practice, we’re so close so everything just comes together during the game.”

The Bears struck quickly as Lewis ran for 29 yards on the first play from scrimmage and senior Chase Haglund followed with back-to-back 19-yard runs, the second one giving his team an 8-0 lead after Lewis’ 2-point conversion run.

After Holley — ranked No. 7 this week — went three-and-out, Frewsburg marched 76 yards in eight plays with Lewis running for a 33-yard touchdown on third-and-3 for a 14-0 lead.

“The offensive line, Greyson (Lewis), Branden (Francis), Jaden (Collver), Hunter Winters, Trenton Benson, they all rotate in. They’ve really solidified our offense,” Collver said. “They are the foundation. Trent, Chase and (senior) Blake (Weaver) get all the carries, but without those guys we don’t move the ball and we don’t win.”

The Bears stopped the Red Hawks on fourth-and-1 from the 7-yard line to end the next drive and then went 93 yards in eight plays over the next four minutes and 56 seconds. On the second play of the second quarter, Haglund ran for a 13-yard touchdown to make it 22-0 after another Lewis conversion run.

Holley finally got on the scoreboard with 8:38 left in the second quarter as Kuyal connected with Vincent Golisano for a 10-yard touchdown pass. Kuyal’s 2-point conversion pass to Mason Moyer made it a 22-8 game.

Two possessions later, the Bears answered the Red Hawks’ score when Haglund got loose for a 72-yard touchdown with 2:46 remaining in the first half.

“They made some adjustments, but they couldn’t stop Blake and Chase running the ball,” Lewis said.

Holley scored on its first possession of the second half to make it 28-14, and although Frewsburg didn’t score on its next possession, the Bears did take over seven minutes off the clock.

“I didn’t expect them to be able to run the ball on us. They have a pretty good passing game,” Collver said. ” … Will (Prince) is a good coach and I knew he would come out with something less traditional than a power run game because that’s what we all do.”

The Red Hawks made it a one-score game early in the fourth quarter as Kuyal completed an 18-yard touchdown pass to Golisano, but Haglund scored his third touchdown of the game on a 20-yard run with 6:05 remaining to make it 34-20.

After Kuyal threw incomplete on fourth down with 4:17 remaining, Weaver put the game away with a 34-yard touchdown run.

“I knew it would be a close game. The way that we started out … I thought maybe we would keep a two- or three-score lead. But they’re a good team and there’s a reason they were 4-0,” Collver said. ” … We kept preaching all week, next play. … We had to move on and that’s what we did in the fourth quarter.”

The Bears will have to continue playing their best next week as they travel to Pembroke to take on the state’s top-ranked Dragons in a battle for first place.

“These guys, every day in film, they talk about it. They talk about going past Far West. … They have bigger aspirations and bigger goals,” Collver said. “It’s kind of neat as a coach to sit back and be a part of it. … They practice that way and we play that way.”

NOTES: Lewis ran for 161 yards and threw for 72, while Haglund ran for 168 yards for the Bears. Weaver added 91 yards on the ground. … Pembroke was scheduled to play Bolivar-Richburg/Parker-Jordan Christian Academy tonight, but was awarded a forfeit and will have two weeks to prepare for Frewsburg.

Holley 0 8 6 14 — 28

Frewsburg 14 14 0 14 — 42

Fre–Haglund 19 pass from Lewis (Lewis run)

Fre–Lewis 33 run (pass failed)

Fre–Haglund 13 run (Lewis run)

Hol–Golisano 10 pass from Kuyal (Moyer pass from Kuyal)

Fre–Haglund 72 run (pass failed)

Hol–Kuyal 3 run (run failed)

Fre–Haglund 20 run (run failed)

Fre–Weaver 34 run (Haglund run)

Hol–Golisano 8 pass from Kuyal (Moyer pass from Kuyal)