UNIONTOWN - Francis Scott Key has a young, inexperienced football team coming off a winless season and getting used to a new coach.
The Eagles suffered a one-sided defeat in their season opener on Friday, falling 56-6 to perennial power Walkersville, a 10-win team a season ago.
Walkersville got on the board early, scoring its first touchdown 1 minute, 34 seconds into the game, and tallied all 56 of its points in the first half as Lions quarterback Brady Policelli accounted for seven touchdowns.
"Walkersville has a senior-dominated team," first-year FSK coach Dave Smith said. "They're a year older, a year more experienced, a year stronger, and it certainly showed up tonight."
The Eagles (0-1) have just eight seniors on their roster, along with 17 juniors and 14 sophomores, and the school does not have a junior varsity team this season.
Sophomore Clayton Vleck, who threw four incomplete passes and ran for 66 yards on 18 carries, won the team's quarterback competition on Wednesday, and Smith said he feels confident in Vleck at the position.
"He's just executing at a level right now that won him the starting spot," said Smith.
Policelli threw three touchdown passes and ran for four more against the Eagles' defense, compiling 93 passing yards and 105 on the ground.
Vleck said the team wasn't executing in the first half, but he tried to do what he could to help on offense.
"We came out flat," Vleck said. "We had a couple mistakes. ... When things broke down [I was] just getting as many positive yards as I can."
Francis Scott Key scored its lone touchdown on a 30-yard run by Callen Meeks.
"Their defense set up wrong," Meeks said, "so everything was looking well for us right there. We just took what we had and made the best of it."
Although Smith's coaching career did not start as he said he would have liked it to, he said he thought his team didn't give up against Walkersville, and that his young squad will improve as they gain more experience throughout the season.
"It was a tough challenge for us tonight, but we competed," Smith said. "We competed like real men and we didn't quit. When life throws adversity at you, you can't quit, just got to keep moving forward.
"Each week you try to take a step forward and you hope that your young kids get as much experience as soon as they can. It's tough now, but it's good for the near future."
Walkersville 28 28 0 0 - 56
Francis Scott Key 0 0 0 6 - 6
W-Brady Policelli 10 run (Policelli kick)
W-Policelli 23 pass to Branden Smith (Policelli kick)
W-Policelli 22 run (Policelli kick)
W-Policelli 6 pass to Cody Tharpe (Policelli kick)
W-Policelli 30 pass to Nick Tucker (Policelli kick)
W-Policelli 7 run (Policelli kick)
W-Policelli 21 run (Policelli kick)
W-C.J. Walters 5 run (Policelli kick)
F-Callen Meeks 30 run (run failed)
Rushing
W-Policelli 5-105, Avery Ezell 10-85, Trae Harris 2-40, Walters 2-19, Smith 4-6, Jonathan Sandoval 1-1; F-Matt Clingan 17-75, Vleck 18-66, Meeks 1-30, Dylan Kohlhaus 1-10, Eric Smith 4-8, Rye Thomas 5-7.
Passing
W-Policelli 5-7-0 93; F-Clayton Vleck 0-4-0 0.
Receiving
W-Tucker 2-40, Tharpe 2-32, Smith 1-10.
