GRIDLEY, CA (MPG) - The Gridley Bulldogs snatched the pistols of the Wheatland Pirates as they opened their season with 20-0 shutout Friday night.

The Gridley win Friday avenged their last game as Wheatland eliminated the Bulldogs in the first round of the Division III Northern Section Playoffs last year.

As this was Gridley’s opening game of the season, it was the Pirates third.

Entering his sixth season as the Bulldogs head coach, Matt Kemmis said you’re going to have those concerns of first game mistakes, but Gridley was clean with zero turnovers throughout the game.

“We forced four turnovers, so that was a big difference in the game,” Kemmis said.

He added that his defense forced a fumble on Wheatland’s opening drive of the game where they took possession on the Pirates 10-yard line.

Taking the snaps behind center for the Bulldogs is sophomore quarterback “Gus” Stogsdill.

Kemmis said that Stogsdill was voted as team captain by his peers when it was time to pick the leaders of the team for the season.

“He (Stogsdill) is the unquestionable leader of our team,” Kemmis said. “Were excited to see him develop over the next three seasons.”

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In his first varsity start, Stogsdill was a problem for the Wheatland defense to contain.

Stogsdill threw for 82 yards on 8-10 passing and ran the yards on 8-10 pass attempts along with 99 rushing yards on 18 attempts, and two rushing touchdowns.

“He is a real dual threat quarterback,” Kemmis said.

When Kemmis became the head coach of the Bulldogs, he instilled a pistol offensive scheme, where it mostly consists of running plays.

He added that in his time at Gridley, he hasn’t had a quarterback that has been able to run with and throw the ball consistently like Stogsdill has.

One of the biggest challenges for The Bulldogs this season is they will have the smallest roster in the Butte View league, which consists of 23 players.

Kemmis said he had five players play on both sides of the ball Friday night.

Although that may not seem like a significant number, any injury is crucial to a small roster size.

Kemmis said that in the shut out, he did have five sophomores on the defensive side of the ball throughout the whole game.

“We’re going to be looking forward to the next couple of years,” Kemmis said.

Another two-way player that made an impact in the Gridley victory Friday night was senior wide receiver/cornerback Angel Castaneda.

Castaneda closed out the first half with a 68-yard interception that he returned for a touchdown.

The Bulldogs took a 20-0 lead at the half and went conservative by running the clock down with running play after running play in the second half.

“We controlled the game defensively, especially throwing a shutout,” Kemmis said. “It was great that we forced four turnovers and scored on the defensive side of the ball.”

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Gridley will head on the road this week as they travel to play with the Marysville Indians on Thursday.

Kemmis said it’s going to be a unique week to play on a short week that included no school on Monday due to the Labor Day Holiday and playing on Thursday night.

He added the Thursday night game was due to the shortage of referees in the Sac-Joaquin Section.

Kick-off from Marysville will be at 7:30 p.m.