ST. PAULS — Mike Setzer talks often about “the standard” within his St. Pauls football program.

It didn’t take long for that standard to be met by the Bulldogs defense in 2024.

St. Pauls held Purnell Swett to one scoring drive, especially containing the Rams in the first half, en route to a 26-7 win to open the new season.

“Defensively, when we play 2A ball, our guys have got to be able to go at all times, different positions, things like that,” Mike Setzer said. “To sum this up, what really went good was our substitutions, and them continuing to keep the standard. When you go into the first game you want to see, can you substitute, can you keep up with it, and I thought we kept up with the standard. I thought we played really good, solid football tonight, defensively.”

Purnell Swett (0-1) was held scoreless in the first half, totaling just 70 yards of offense through the first 24 minutes. The Rams were held to 90 rushing yards for the game.

“I hate to say it, but the first time competition, (not having) the jamborees. But hats off to St. Pauls, they came ready to play,” Purnell Swett coach Josh Deese said. “They played football. We’ve just got to do better.”

“The defensive line (was big) for sure,” St. Pauls cornerback/wide receiver Jakhi Purcell said. “Our defensive line, they were playing strong. … Our D-line showed up when it was most important.”

That helped the Bulldogs (1-0) to build a lead behind three first-half touchdowns, with Yoshua McBryde rushing for two scores and Theophilus Setzer connecting with Jakhi Purcell for another. St. Pauls had 243 yards of offense in the first half.

“Offensively, I couldn’t be more happy in the first half,” Mike Setzer said. “But even in the first half we left some points on the board, and I think the second half we were trying to figure out some things and had some implosion there, but then towards the end I was proud of them because then they were able to solidify some things. We’ve just got to cut down on some mistakes as far as penalties and things like that.”

Penalties were, in fact, a problem for both sides: St. Pauls was penalized 20 times for 170 yards, while Purnell Swett had 11 penalties for 85 yards.

McBryde ran for 162 yards, including his two scoring runs, on 18 carries for the Bulldogs.

“The offensive line, good blocking, it’s like bread and butter, I’m the bread, they’re the butter,” McBryde said. “Without them I can’t do nothing. It’s good offensive blocking, and blocking from our receivers too.”

He paired with Theophilus Setzer, who was 12-for-16 passing for 105 yards and a score, to provide a double threat for the Bulldogs offense.

“That’s the thing, with our offense, it’s one thing to have a good quarterback, but when you’ve got a good running back — we’ve got a good running game, we’ve got a good quarterback, we’ve got good receivers,” Mike Setzer said. “We’re going to try to utilize all that facet of the game. I thought we showed really well that we can run the ball down your throat, and I’m very happy about that.”

“They gave me a way bigger role this year,” Theophilus Setzer said. “Everybody was getting to where needed to be and everybody was playing their role really well, and them being able to do that makes everybody else open up a lot. Everybody’s going to have a lot of fun this year.”

St. Pauls took the opening drive 62 yards for a touchdown, keeping the drive alive on a Theophilus Setzer run on a fake punt, before McBryde ran the final three plays of the drive including a 4-yard scoring run. The extra-point missed and St. Pauls held a 6-0 lead.

The next Bulldogs drive ended with a bad snap on a punt resulting in a turnover on downs, but Purnell Swett went four-and-out from inside St. Pauls territory to give the ball back to the Bulldogs. One play later, McBryde had dashed 66 yards to the end zone; St. Pauls led 12-0 after the two-point try failed with 11:42 left in the opening half.

“We knew with the athletes they have, they’re going to get big chunks, but it’s got to be that bend and don’t break mentality,” Deese said. “Our defense played well. We gave up the pick-six, so 19 points on defense. We’ll be OK on that side of the ball.”

Theophilus Setzer completed his first seven passes of the game. After his eighth fell incomplete, his ninth came on the following drive — a 24-yard pass to Purcell for a touchdown, which gave the Bulldogs a 19-0 lead after the extra-point kick with 7:16 to go in the half.

“I thought that he was able to get his feet; it’s about, at the beginning of the game, not taking 3-pointers but taking layups,” Mike Setzer said. “I thought Theo was able to get some layups off the ground, and then what I’m saying about that is getting the confidence, and I thought they got in a really good rhythm really quickly. I thought that we were firing on all cylinders, and I was very excited about them and happy for them in the first half.”

The touchdown reception was part of a four-catch, 49-yard night for Purcell.

“I knew it was going to be a touchdown when the play was called, because I’ve got good blockers so I knew they were going to do their part, do their role,” Purcell said. “So I did my role and we scored.”

Both teams punted twice to start the second half before Purnell Swett’s third drive resulted in its first points of the contest, an 8-yard touchdown run by Jamarion Douglas; the PAT made it a 19-7 game with 2:04 left in the third.

Purnell Swett got as far as the Bulldogs’ 10-yard line on its next drive, converting a fourth-and-14 on a 39-yard pass from Raymond Cummings to Elan Locklear. But the Rams had three penalties, a bad snap resulting in a 12-yard loss and two incompletions during the rest of the drive, going back as far as the 36-yard line and eventually turning the ball over on downs with 7:40 to play.

“We’re first-and-goal at the 10, and I think we lost 40 yards,” Deese said. “We’re not going to win games that way. We had our opportunities and we didn’t capitalize, so we’ve just got to work on that Monday.”

St. Pauls drove to the Rams’ 2-yard line but fumbled into the end zone, resulting in a touchback for Purnell Swett with 2:21 left. But the game was, perhaps appropriately, sealed by another play by the Bulldogs’ defense, when Malachi Locklear intercepted a Rams pass and returned it 35 yards for a touchdown to go up 26-7 with 1:01 on the clock.

“I saw him, I read it,” Malachi Locklear said. “It was very big.”

Cummings was 11-for-21 passing for 76 yards for Purnell Swett, and was the team’s leading rusher with 32 yards. Elan Locklear caught four passes for 51 yards, while Douglas had 29 rushing yards on seven carries including his scoring run.

St. Pauls beat Purnell Swett for the first time in school history after dropping the previous six meetings. Friday’s game was the first between the programs since 2010. St. Pauls last defeated a Pembroke-based high school by beating Pembroke in 1979. The Bulldogs have also won six of their last seven season openers.

Purnell Swett looks to bounce back next Friday when the Rams travel to Fairmont.

“We’re tough,” Deese said. “We’ll bounce back from this, no doubt in my mind. We’re better than what we showed tonight.”

The Bulldogs travel to Lee County next Friday.