Fontainebleau’s Clay Fritscher and Perrin Sims combined for 231-rushing yards and three touchdowns and Spencer Ragas had a big third-quarter interception in a 30-28 victory over Jesuit at the Dawg Pound Wednesday.

The season opener for both teams was originally scheduled for tonight, but was moved up due to the threat of Hurricane Ike.

Jesuit led 7-6 at intermission, but the second half provided the fans of both teams enough action to keep them on the edge of their seats.

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Fontainebleau took the second-half kickoff and using its ball-control offense, drove 67 yards on 12 plays, taking 6:41 off the clock. Facing second-and-goal from the five, Fritscher, who rushed for 106 yards on 13 carries, took an inside handoff and ran up the middle for a touchdown. Hunter Starring’s extra point made it 13-7 with 5:19 left. The Bulldogs converted two-third downs on the scoring drive.

It didn’t take long for FHS to score again and it was the defense that provided the tally. On Jesuit’s first play from scrimmage, following the kickoff, Blue Jays’ quarterback Ethan Oddo threw a pass short of his receiver and Ragas was there for the interception. He sprinted up the right sideline 35 yards for the score. Starring once again applied the PAT, giving FHS a 20-7 advantage with 4:54 left.

Ragas talked about the interception return.

“The wide receiver came out and did a slant. It was a slant corner. I bit on the slant and the guy under-threw it. I stepped up and picked it. My eyes got real big and just started going for the end zone,” Ragas said.

The Bulldogs had a golden opportunity to blow the game open when Jesuit fumbled the ensuing kickoff and Chris Fisher dove on the loose ball at Jesuit’s 25-yard line. The Blue Jays’ defense stood tall and held the Bulldogs to a field-goal attempt, which was no good.

FHS’ offense controlled the ball so much in the third quarter that the Blue Jays ran their second offensive play of the period with 3:25 left and went three-and-out on the drive, but by no means was this one over.

FHS ran three plays and were forced to punt as the third quarter ended. The Blue Jays got the ball back at the 50. One the first play of the fourth quarter, Oddo found Rontrell Edwards for 47 yards. On the next play, Gary Langlois took a pitch and ran into the end zone for a touchdown. Ralphie Freibert’s PAT trimmed the lead to 20-14 just 28 seconds into the fourth quarter.

FHS responded to the score by going on a five play 79-yard scoring drive, capped off when Sims took a handoff, cut up the middle and outran defenders for a 56-yard touchdown run with 9:03 left in the game. Starring made it 27-14 with his point after. Sims ended the game with 125 yards on 14 carries with two TDs.

Sims credited his blockers for his big rushing night and he talked about his long run.

“At first, I saw everybody going left. I cutback and I saw the whole wall, the offensive line push (left), and one guy sitting back there. I just kept running and he couldn’t catch me,” Sims said.

Jesuit came right back as Payten Jason returned the ensuing kickoff 80 yards down to FHS’ 11. Andrew Liuzza forced him out of bounds, saving a potential score. His play only delayed Jesuit from scoring as three plays later, Jason ran in from seven-yards out. Jonathan Poole’s PAT made the score 27-21 with still 8:19 left.

Fontainebleau’s ball control offense took over as the Bulldogs chewed up 4:21 off the clock. Needing a field goal to make it a two-score game, Starring obliged by splitting the uprights from 31-yards out and it was 30-21 with 3:51 left.

Jesuit came right back. On the first play after the kickoff, the Blue Jays scored appeared to score on a 70-yard screen pass, but it was called back due to a holding penalty. Jesuit drove down the field and tallied on a pass from Oddo to Beau Mothe with 2:11 left. The Blue Jays attempted an onside kick, but Gerald Gruenig recovered it for FHS and the Bulldogs ran out the clock.

Fontainebleau second-year coach Gregg Hudson said he was proud of his offense’s performance.

“I thought the offense played their best game since I’ve been here,” Hudson said. “They’ve been working hard. Coach (Mike) Woods has done a great job of calling the plays. The defense kind of got into a little funk, but defense carried us so much last year, it was our turn to do something. We still owe the defense not just one night.”

Jesuit coach Wayde Keiser gave Fontainebleau kudos for its running game.

“The fullback (Fritscher) did a great job with what there scheme is,” Keiser said. “Then they popped the sweep with No. 6 (Sims). We didn’t make some tackles. It’s a good football game on both sides. All kids played hard. It was such a short preparation week for both teams,” Keiser said.

The Bulldogs will go for a 2-0 record next Friday when they host Douglass at the Dawg Pound.