Cinco Ranch is ready to flip the script this year.

After combining for one win over the previous two seasons, Cinco had already doubled that going into this week, and the Cougars are out to prove that this team is for real.

“We put in the work all offseason from the weight room to practice and into the season,” said junior quarterback Gavin Rutherford. “This is a brotherhood and a family and it’s been great, but we can’t get too high or too low, we have to stay level headed.”

The Cougars (3-0) had used a strong passing game and defense in their first two wins, but wanted to prove to themselves that they could be a balanced offense, and the goal was to establish the run early and often in Friday’s non-district matchup against Brazoswood.

Establish they did, as Cinco rushed for 215 yards in a 48-14 blowout win over Brazoswood.

It didn’t take a second for the Cougars to get their first score, as the opening kickoff took a sideways hop and Brazoswood (2-1) couldn’t control it, leading to Bryan Perez Gilbes picking up the ball and returning for a touchdown with no time coming off the clock.

“You don’t see that very often and to go down and do that, that was a catalyst for the rest of the evening,” said Cinco Ranch head coach Chris Dudley. “It was a heads up play by Perez Gilbes and boom it’s seven to nothing. Then to get the ball to start the second half it almost makes it like your starting both halves with the ball.”

Rutherford doubled Cinco’s lead late in the fourth quarter as he kept a read option and took it 61-yards for a touchdown and Samuel McKnight chipped in with a touchdown on a 16-yard run.

From there, the Cougars started to pull away.

After a fumble, Rutherford hit Seth Salverino on a 37-yard touchdown pass on the next play to put the Cougars up 27-0. And turnovers turned into points again as Perez-Gilbes intercepted a pass and Rutherford connected with Salverino on a fourth-and-15 pass for a 34-yard touchdown.

“We just wanted to come in and with and I’m glad we did that,” Salverino said. “Once we got into the game, we realized their cornerbacks were something we could go after and we were just able to sail it over their heads and get a couple of big plays.”

Brazoswood would answer back before the end of the half with a 31-yard pass from Isaac Ponce to Reagan Marshall, but the night belonged to Cinco Ranch.

McKnight picked up his second touchdown in the second half and Aadi Patel took a house call as Jack McCall found him for a 81-yard touchdown pass once the backups were in. Brazoswood scored a late touchdown but it was too little too late.

“It’s a veteran group, and last year they did a good job too,” Dudley said. “They made good improvements last year and they’ve improved this year too. It’s been a good thing to see through three weeks that we’ve been consistent with not giving up point and making teams work for it. We aren’t giving up those big plays, we’re making teams really work to score.”

Rutherford finished the night with 112 yards passing and 93 yards rushing to go with his three total touchdowns while Salverino had 101 yards receiving and McKnight had 102 yards on the ground.

“It’s big to be able to run the ball like that,” Dudley said. “I challenged them before the game and we told them ‘we have to be able to run the football.’ Tonight’s the night we had to do that, you have to have balance with running and passing. We know we have great pieces in the passing game but when you’re one dimensional then teams will figure that out and put pressure on you in different ways. We have to continue to build on that and continue to do it against the good teams that we’ll face next week and once we start district.”

The 3-0 start is the Cougars first since 2015 and they will look to keep things going next week when they face Clear Falls (3-0).

“It’s been great to start off like this,” said sophomore receiver Yetxiel Perez Gilbes. “ It’s been great the way we’ve worked to get here and I’m glad it’s paying off. “We just have to keep doing what we have been and keep becoming a better team.”

Cinco Ranch 48, Brazoswood 14

First quarter

Cinco: Bryan Perez-Gilbes fumble recovery (Santiago Taborda kick), 12:00

Cinco: Gavin Rutherford 61 run (Taborda kick), 2:18

Second quarter

Cinco: Samuel McKnight 16 run, 11:14

Cinco: Rutherford 37 pass to Seth Salverino (Taborda kick), 10:46

Cinco: Rutherford 35 pass to Salverino (Taborda kick), 3:44

Brazos: Isaac Ponce 31 pass to Geagan Marshall (Reid Mitchell kick), 1:35

Third quarter

Cinco: McKnight 1 run (Taborda kick), 8:33

Fourth quarter

Cinco: Jack McCall 81 pass to Aadi Patel (Taborda kick), 9:23

Brazos: Ponce 2 pass to Riker Blank (Mitchell kick), 0:15

Team stats

Individual Statistics

Rushing -- Cinco: Samuel McKnight, 18-102-2; Gavin Rutherford, 8-93-1; Eric Eckstrom, 4-19;  Brazos: Dijon James, 12-44; Micah Buice, 5-53; Jody Malone, 8-25; Isaac Ponce, 16-6; Cole Hagan, 1-9;

Passing -- Cinco: Gavin Rutherford, 5-7-112-2-0; Jack McCall, 1-1-81-1-0; Brazos: Isaac Ponce, 10-23-2-2;

Receiving – Cinco: Seth Salverino, 4-101-2; Aadi Patel, 1-81-1; Dylan Crosby, 1-11; Brazos: Reagan Marshall, 3-68-1; Ethan Cabellero, 1-11; Cole Hagen, 1-9; Jody Malone, 2-9; Dijon James, 1-7; Riker Blank, 1-2-1; Anthony Trevino, 1-5;