By DOUG DONNELLY

OTTAWA LAKE – It’s home opener time.

Whiteford will host Ida tonight in Week 2 of the high school football season. The Bobcats (1-0) have won two straight against Ida and 15 straight games overall.

Bobcat head coach Todd Thieken said the Bobcats have to shore up some of the mistakes his team made in the week one win over Blissfield.

“There was a lot of stuff that is uncharacteristic of a championship team,” Thieken said. “We might have had a thousand yards in penalties. That’s unacceptable.

“That a discipline issue we have to correct in practice. As coaches, we have to do a better job of not letting some of the uncharacteristic things that happened Friday not happen again. It’s early in the season obviously. We definitely have to get better.”

The Bobcats rushed for 262 yards on 31 carries against Blissfield and passed for another 196 yards. For a team that had to replace four offensive lineman and its starting quarterback, that’s a solid Week One effort.

“Blissfield was able to take away our off-tackle game a little bit, but I thought we ran the ball pretty well,” Thieken said. “(Quarterback) Tre (Eitniear) came out guns blazing and looked good. He played well.”

Eitniear finished the game 9-of-16 for 196 yards passing. Eight of his completions went to Kolby Masserant, who finished three yards shy of Whiteford’s single game receiving yards record.

“I hope they keep coming my way,” Masserant said. “I’m ready.”

Ryin Ruddy’s 74-yard touchdown run with under 30 seconds remaining brought the Bobcats back from a 21-20 deficit in the final minute. Ruddy and Eitniear battled all training camp to be the starting quarterback. Thieken said both are capable at the position.

“Ryin is a great kid and a great football player,” Thieken said. “He could be a great quarterback for us. Coming into (the opener), we felt the team, offensively, is a little bit better with him at tight end because of all of the things he does there.”

Thieken said the Bobcats planned to use both quarterbacks during the game, but as the game unfolded, Eitniear remained under center. Ruddy came in when Eitniear went to the sidelines with an injury inside of 40 seconds left in the game.

“We were going to use two quarterbacks,” Thieken said. “The game got into a situation where it didn’t happen.”

Whiteford’s defense allowed 226 total yards against Blissfield, all but 27 of them on the ground. But the Royals needed 49 carries to get that amount.

Ida put on an offensive show in its season opener, beating Grosse Ile 41-7. Behind a solid wall of returning offensive lineman, the Bluestreaks had four running backs gain more than 50 yards on the ground. Trevor Konieczny rushed for 109 yards, Gavin Albring 73, Wyatt Dirkmatt 68 and Dean Thomas 67.

First-year starter Owen Snyder passed for 44 yards and a touchdown.

Friday Night Victors lists Whiteford No. 1 and Ida No. 5 in its first in-season rankings of the season. Detroit Free Press writer Mick McCabe also has Whiteford No. 1 in Division 8 heading into this week.

Kickoff is at 7 p.m.