It took a couple drives, but once they got rolling the Blooming Prairie Awesome Blossoms roared to a 40-14 win over Southland in both team’s season opener Friday night in Blooming Prairie.

BP put up 23 points in the first half after finding a way through the Rebels’ stout defense.

“It took us a little bit to figure out what they were doing,” head coach Chad Gimbel said. “But once we were able to settle in and get a grasp, we were able to get our kids in a position where we could be successful.”

Quarterback Seth Peterson was 20-for-29 for 414 yards, spreading the ball evenly among his core of receivers including a first-quarter strike to Gabe Hagen for 87 yards. Hagen finished with four catches for 123 yards and two touchdowns.

Karson Vigeland had three catches for 101 yards, all of them touchdowns and Payton Simon had four catches for 102 yards.

Southland struggled to find yards amassing just 84 yards passing and 71 yards rushing. Running back Noah Sayles had six carries for 48 yards.

“You can tell that we’re a young and inexperienced football team,” Southland head coach Shawn Kennedy said. “We have a lot of work to do and they’re a good football team.”

Scoring summary

Southland 0       7 0 7 — 14

Blooming Prairie  14 19 0 7 — 40

Blooming Prairie

Passing: Seth Peterson, 20-for-29, 414 yards, 6 TD.

Receiving: Gabs Hagen 4-for-123 yards, 2TD; Karson Vigeland 3 -for-101 yards, 3TDs; Payton Simon 4-for-102 yards, 1TD; Tim Wolf 4-for-64 yards.

Rushing: Matthew Pryor 13-for-29.

Southland

Rushing: Lee Wilson, 8-for-56, TD; Noah Sayles, 10-for-54; Dan Boe, 1-for-15; Carter Schmitz, 5-for-5; Donovan Felton, 1-for-2 Brendan Kennedy, 1-for-3; Nick Boe, 2-for-3

Passing: Noah Lamp, 4-for-11, 77, TD; Wilson, 0-for-2; Dan Boe, 0-for-2

Receiving: Owen Smith, 1-for-66, TD; Lee Wilson, 2-for-10; Carter Schmitz, 1-for-1