When the Redskins arrive just minutes before the scheduled start of Friday night’s Wolverine Conference showdown, they made themselves at home at Chris Taylor-Alumni Field too.

Paw Paw captured its second outright league championship in three years with a 51-16 win over a Dowagiac team that needed a win to advance to the playoffs for the sixth straight year.

But the Chieftains, who were the preseason pick to win the Wolverine Conference, looked anything but a playoff-bound football team as it fumbled on its first two plays, gave up a 15-yard touchdown run to Paw Paw’s Andrew Buskirk on the third play from scrimmage and snapped a ball over the head of its punter Brett Scanlon, which went out of bounds for a safety.

All that occurred in the game’s first three minutes. By the time the game was seven minutes old, Paw Paw owned a 16-0 led when Buskirk hit Marquis Gill behind the Dowagiac defense for a 91-yard touchdown.

The Chieftains tried to claw their way into the contest in the first five seconds of the second quarter when Anthony Nelson capped off a nice Dowagiac drive with a 1-yard run to cut the lead to 16-6 after the 2-point conversion run failed.

Paw Paw would have none of that and scored the next 28 points to take a 44-6 lead into the locker room at the intermission and assured that the second half would be played with a running clock under the 35-point mercy rule.

The four-touchdown second quarter barrage began with a 45-yard Buskirk to Connor Prpich touchdown pass and ended with a 3-yard Eric Williams pass to Anthony Wrona on a fake field goal with 12.4 seconds left in the opening half.

In between, Williams scored on a 3-yard run and Buskirk added a 7-yard run. Max Field was perfect on all six first half extra points as the Redskins opened up a 38-point lead.

Paw Paw scored three of those touchdowns in a four-minute span, two of which came after Dowagiac miscues.

Dowagiac opened the second half with a safety when backup quarterback Brett Boven was tackled in the end zone, but the Redskins would regroup and scored a third quarter touchdown on a 10-yard run by James DeYoung.

The Chieftains capped the scoring with a 35-yard Austin Adams run and a Nelson 2-point conversion run.

Paw Paw (8-1) finished the night with 111 yards rushing and 214 yards passing. Buskirk, who broke the school record for passing yardage in a single season, added to his 2,000-plus yards as he went 10-of-20 for 211 yards. DeYoung led the Redskins in rushing with 62 yards on 15 carries.

Dowagiac had 173 yards on the ground, led by Adams’ 69 yards on eight carries. The Chieftains were just 5-of-16 for 58 yards passing, including an interception. Adams and Brett Scanlon split time at quarterback as regular starter Mike Pransche was in street cloths on the sidelines with an injury.

The Chieftains also lost the turnover battle as they had three fumbles and finished the night with four turnovers compared to none by the Redskins.

Paw Paw 16 28 7 0 – 51

Dowagiac 0 6 2 8 – 16

PP – Andrew Buskirk 15 run (Max Field kick)

PP – Safety, punt snap out of back of end zone

PP – Marquis Gill 91 pass from Buskirk (Field kick)

D – Anthony Nelson 1 run (run failed)

PP – Connor Prpich 45 pass from Buskirk (Field kick)

PP – Eric Williams 3 run (Field kick)

PP – Buskirk 7 run (Field kick)

PP – Anthony Wrona 3 pass from Williams (Field kick)

D – Safety, Brett Boven tackled in end zone

PP – James DeYoung 10 run (Field kick)

D – Austin Adams 35 run (Nelson run)