The King’s Fork Bulldogs took care of business at home Friday with a 44-26 win over Smithfield (0-1).

Coach Scottie Littles breathed a sigh of relief Friday night as the Bulldogs won their season opener, which was also his first game as a head coach.

“It feels good,” Littles said. “I told the kids this is what we expect to do. The principal presented me with the game ball yesterday, and I really feel like the school is behind us and supports us and create a culture of success.”

The Bulldogs controlled the pace of the game from start to finish. At halftime, they led 18-0 after solid efforts from offense and defense. Three scores came from a touchdown pass from Justin German, a touchdown run by Darran Butts and another run by Dennis Whitehead.

“Defensively, we did a good job in taking away what they wanted to do,” Littles said. “We knew they wanted to get the ball to their playmaker. Offensively, we wanted to push the tempo we ran 85 plays Friday, which is unheard of around here.”

Out of those 85 plays, King’s Fork totaled 417 total yards of offense. Quarterback Justin German won the starting job this summer for the Bulldogs and in his first action, he completed 17 of his 30 pass attempts for 266 yards and three touchdowns. Littles felt his quarterback could have made even more plays and would like to see him improve on making his reads.

Butts led the team with a total of three touchdowns. Because of German’s athletic ability, Littles likes the way he compliments Butts on the field. Both combined for six of the team’s seven touchdowns.

“Darran is lightning in a bottle,” coach said. “With the type of offense that we run it doesn’t allow you to key in on just one guy. Justin is that compliment because of his athletic ability. You can’t just key in on Darran because Justin can pull the ball and make plays as well.”

Not only does Littles like the combination between Butts and German, but also he likes what backup running back Nasir Davis offers as a one-two punch to Butts.

The Bulldogs have the week off this week before going away to Hickory High School Sept. 9 at 7 p.m.