McDERMOTT — With East's 27-17 victory over Northwest in McDermott on Thursday, one thing can finally be said for certain — it's football season!

Just like the pros like playing on Monday or Sunday night, the Mohawks and Tartans got the benefit of playing in front of some of their peers. Also, being the only game in town drew a nice crowd.

The Tartans trailed 17-14 at the half but kept Northwest off the board and found a way to move the ball in the second half.

Specifically speaking, the Tartans had quarterback Jonathon Garrett just hang on to the ball himself.

Garrett completed one pass for four yards and had two interceptions but he also ran for 178 yards — all in the second half. Garrett's final line was 16-for-178.

"He turned it on," East coach Stacey Bond said. "We saw some things offensively that we could do... Our line fought back and pushed hard and he ran the ball well."

The Mohawks did battle back from a 14-0 to lead 17-14 but in the end the momentum went the Tartans' way.

"I thought the momentum made a couple of swings there," Northwest coach Scott Thompson said. "It was nice to be on the up end of it for a while. The momentum swung there in the second half and the ball bounced their direction and we missed a few assignments. I thought our kids played a nice game and I was proud of everything they did."

East struck first in the contest when Jayvon Wright recovered a fumble in the end zone with 7:44 to play in the first quarter. Jordan Garrett's two-yard run at the end of the quarter made it 14-0.

The second quarter belonged completely to the Mohawks.

Taylor Horsley scored on a five-yard dash with just less than nine minutes to go and scored again — this time on defense — by running 36 yards to return East QB Jon Garrett's interception for a touchdown.

The Mohawks got gutsy after that score, attempting and recovering an onside kick. Mohawk quarterback T.J. Knittle led the team to the Tartan 13 yard line. Derrick Colley did the rest, nailing a 30-yard field goal to give Northwest the lead.

Jon Garrett scored on a seven yard dash in the third quarter and rushed 63 yards in fourth quarter for the "nail-in-the-coffin" score.

All things considered however, it was a good way to start off the season from a fan perspective before tonight's full slate of games.

Portsmouth resident Matt Payton, 23, who was at the game, summed up what many area residents feel about Friday's in the fall.

"I think its just the whole competitiveness of it," Payton, who played for Portsmouth in high school, said. "Watching high school kids go out and perform; It's the atmosphere, the air and the Friday night lights."

NOTES :The game was delayed for nearly an hour for lightning. Northwest's defensive tackle Tyson Brown left the game with unspecified knee injury on his third play on defense and did not return.

East 14 0 7 6 — 27

Northwest 0 17 0 0 — 17

SCORING SUMMARY

First Quarter

East — Fumble recovery in end zone by Jayvon White (45)...7:44...Garrett kick

East — Jor. Garrett 2-yd run (Jon. Garrett) 0:00

Second Quarter

NW — T. Horsley 5 run (Colley kick) 8:46

NW — T. Horsley 36-yd INT ret. 1:00

NW — Colley 30-yd Field Goal :17

Third Quarter

East — Jon Garret 7 run (Jon. Garrett Kick) 4:29

Fourth Quarter

East — Jon. Garrett 63 run (kick blocked) 7:57

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING

East — Jor. Garrett 11-31, Bradford 3-3, Blair 10-14, Jon Garrett 16-178. Team 40-226.

Northwest — Brown 9-36, Horsley 14-61, Kr. Crabtree 8-18, Pack 1-34. Team 32-149

PASSING

East — Jon Garrett 1-13-2 4

Northwest — Knittle 2-7-2

RECEIVING

East — Adkins 1-4

Northwest — Ke. Crabtree 2-38

Records — East 1-0, Northwest 0-1