WEST LIBERTY — Steubenville played superb in all three aspects of its high school football game with Linsly Friday night on the artificial surface at West Liberty University’s West Family Stadium.

Big Red (2-2) ran for 282 yards and six touchdowns; passed for 160 and two more scores; and their special teams had the cadets starting at their own 20-yard line on seven of their nine possessions.

“That was a great game we just played. We had a great week of practice and we finished it with a great game tonight,” veteran Steubenville head coach Reno Saccoccia said. “I liked everything about tonight. It was a good win against a good team.”

Steubenville scored touchdowns on its first seven possessions in rolling to a 42-7 halftime advantage.

“We didn’t respond from the get-go. They are a very good football team,” Linsly head coach B.J. Depew said. “They came at us hard and we didn’t do anything about it, and we never got it turned around. It wasn’t very good for us out there tonight.”

Steubenville won the coin toss, took the ball and drove 63 yards on five plays as Ca’Juan Bryant capped it with a 4-yard run. Cole Bowers, an Army recruit, booted the first of his six PATs.

A nice punt return from Landon Crosier set the visitors up at the Linsly 31. On first down, quarterback Santino Haney found Crosier down the middle of the field for a 340-yard gain to the 1. Crosier then leaped over the pile and Bowers’ point-after made it 14-0.

Linsly (1-3) was finally able to put together some offense as quarterback Braden Wade started to heat up. The Cadets marched to the Big Red 5 before a fourth-down pass was dropped in the end zone.

“We had one good drive, but, unfortunately, we dropped a ball in the end zone on fourth down with everything hanging on that drive,” Depew recalled. “We rallied a little bit at the end of the first half, but, ultimately, they controlled the game on both sides of the line of scrimmage.”

Steubenville marched 95 yards on just six plays as Haney completed a pair of passes for 28 yards, the last going 16 yards to Tre’Von Wiggins for a TD. A crucial 15-yard personal foul penalty against the Cadets aided the drive.

On Linsly’s second snap of the ensuing possession, Big Red linebacker Nolan Blackburn recovered a fumble at the Cadets’ 9. Four plays later, Haney and Wiggins once again hooked up, this time from 5 yards out as the margin grew to 28-0 early in the second quarter.

Linsly’s next drive stalled out and Wade flipped the field with a 50-yard quick kick. However, two plays later, Colton Henderson took a pitch left, got to the far sideline and sprinted untouched 72 yards to paydirt.

James Turner partially blocked a Linsly punt, giving Steubenville possession at the Cadets’ 36. Eight plays later, Crosier bulled his way into the end zone from 2 yards out.

Linsly was faced with a fourth-and-18 from the Big Red 46 with time winding down in the first half. Wade rolled to his right and unleashed an arcing throw that Chris Upton settled under in the end zone to spoil the shutout bid. Joaquin Zarur’s kick made it 42-7 at the half.

Edwards recovered a fumble in the end zone for another Big Red touchdown in the third quarter and freshman Chase Beall was called upon to kick the point-after. An 11-yard run by Deondre Didley capped the scorefest.

Bowers’ towering kickoffs had Linsly start in bad field position all night.

“He’s a weapon,” Saccocia said with a smile.

Bryant ran for 89 yards on 11 carries as eight different players ran the ball. Haney was on target for all but one of his 10 attempts, finishing with 160 yards and the two touchdowns.

Linsly was only able to muster 174 yards of offense, with 157 of that total coming through the air. The Cadets ran 18 times for 17 yards.

“We can play better than we did,” Depew admitted. “This game is all about blocking and tackling and tonight they were the better blockers and the better tacklers.”

Steubenville remains on the road next Friday when it travels to Dover. Linsly, meanwhile, also heads to Tuscarawas County to face New Philadelphia.