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STURGIS — Niles’ flex-bone offense was no match for Sturgis Friday as the visiting Vikings flattened the Trojans 61-21 in Wolverine Conference football action.

Scot Shaw’s Vikings improve to 3-0 in the league and 4-1 overall, while Sturgis slips to 1-2 in conference games and 2-3 overall.

The 61 points scored is the Vikings’ biggest offensive output of the season. Niles, which has put up 50 or more points in four of its contests, has outscored its opposition 236-52.

“These are just a fun bunch of kids to coach and they’ve really grown up since the season began,” Shaw said. “I was really pleased with what I seen from us tonight on offense especially.”

Niles built a 14-0 advantage after one quarter. The Vikings’ scored on a 3-yard quarterback sneak from senior Talon Brawley and on Paul Hess’ five-yard ground strike.

Niles’ senior place kicker Andrew Cutajar was successful on all seven of his PATs during the contest.

Sturgis cut its deficit to seven, 14-7, with 11:42 left in the second quarter on Tanner Patrick’s 69-yard scoring strike receiver Resean O’Tey. Gavyn Moore booted the Trojans’ PAT.

The Trojans’ momentum was short-lived, however, as the Vikings answered with two more scores to expand its lead to 28-7 at halftime. Brawley threaded a 28-yard TD pass into the arms of his sophomore tight end Brenden Olsen and tailback Alex Cole ran five yards for the other Vikings’ TD.

Niles tallied twice in the third quarter and extended its lead to 42-14 following Brawley’s six-yard scoring scamper and Peyton Gordon dashed 33 yards to pay dirt.

Patrick connected with O’Tey for a 34-yard TD for Sturgis’ lone third-quarter score. Moore added the PAT.

The Vikings added their final 19 points of the contest in the fourth quarter. Dylan Garris found the end zone twice on runs of five and 22 yards and Hess crashed over the Trojans’ goal line from seven yards out.

Cary Gibson hauled in a seven-yard TD toss from Patrick for Sturgis’ lone fourth-quarter score. Moore added the PAT.

Niles dominated the stat sheet, including a 25:04-20:08 advantage in time of possession. The Vikings’ experienced offensive line did a nice job moving the chains with the visitors achieving 30 first downs to just 10 for Sturgis.

The Vikings enjoyed a 427-246 edge in total offense, including an astounding 363-7 edge in the rushing department.

Shaw applauded the efforts up front of starting guards Brandon Hamilton and Chase Brawley, along with tackles Riley Cowan and Carson Clanton and our tight ends Dane Asmus and Max Rucker.

“Brandon and Chase pulled a lot tonight and were either kicking or sealing the edge. Our tackles were blocking down well and gave us great angles and our tight ends also did a nice job,” Shaw said.

Leading the Vikings’ ground assault was Hess with 25 carries for 162 yards and two TDs. Garris toted the rock five times for 81 yards and two TDs. Brawley tacked on 10 rushes for 45 and a pair of scores. Gordon added four trips for 35 and one TD and Cole had five attempts for 33 yards and a TD.

Brawley completed 5-of-11 passes for 64 yards and one TD. Olsen caught three passes for 46 yards and one TD.

“Talon does a great job running our offense. He has a lot of reads especially when we are running option plays. That’s not an easy thing to do. I also thought all three of our fullbacks ran well tonight. It’s a pretty cool situation when everything is going right,” Shaw added.

In comparison, Patrick completed 12-of-30 passes for 231 yards and three scores. His favorite target on the night was O’Tey with three receptions for 100 yards and a pair of TDs.

“I wouldn’t say that pass defense is our nemesis. I felt the kid we had defending their receiver was in good shape, but he just couldn’t make a play on it,” Shaw said.

Kyle Kaicee led Sturgis in rushing with three carries for 22 yards.

Shaw was pleased with the performance of his defense led by Cole with a team-high seven tackles, while Alex Henderson and Talen Bennett added six apiece for the Vikings.

Hess had one interception that he returned 15 yards that helped set up one of the Vikings’ first-half scores.

“I thought Talen had a great game defensively for us up front tonight, along with Asmus, Hamilton and Isaiah Moore and so did Julian Means-Flewelling on both sides of the football,” Shaw said.

Brock Fergison had a pass interception for Sturgis defensively.

Sturgis head coach Chance Stewart remained upbeat despite the loss.

“We didn’t do ourselves any favors in that first half with the good field position we gave them. This is just one of those games that we have delete the film from and just move onto next week’s game,” Stewart said.