SOUTH BEND — Raymond’s McCartney Maden made just one move and it allowed the Gulls to fly away from their Willapa Harbor rival on their Senior Night.

On the opening kickoff, Maden faked a handoff to a teammate, executed one cut into an open hole and sprinted for a 90-yard return for a touchdown. The quick score kicked off Raymond’s 35-18 win over South Bend at Millam Field on Friday night.

Maden and Patrick Edwards each ran for two touchdowns for the Gulls (3-1, 4-4), who kept alive their title hopes in the SWW 2B Coastal Division. For the Indians (2-2, 6-2), a win next week at Ocosta will set up a potential three-way tie for second place in the division.

“Winning a rivalry game is icing on the cake,” Raymond head coach Luke Abbott said. “The opening kickoff was just one of those plays we’ve worked on and we went for it. It worked out, gave us the momentum and the kids went with it. Our offensivel line blocked well and the rushing attack ran great with McCartney and Patrick (Edwards). And, I’m very proud of the defense for stopping a very formidable rushing game from South Bend.”

“We had penalties, a turnover in there and it seemed like we were snake-bit in the first half and probably not prepared to play mentally for a rivalry game,” South Bend head coach Shane Byington said. “That’s on us. We need to prepare better for big games. The seniors played well on Senior Night.”

Maden’s game-opening strike was just the first step for Raymond’s dominance in the contest. The Gulls’ rushing attack, which ate up 292 yards rushing as a team, was super effective in controlling the pace of the game and the time of possession.

Raymond had the ball for 26 3/4 minutes for the game and limited South Bend to just over nine minutes of possession.

“With the run game, we don’t want to be in third-and-long situations, especially at the end of the game,” Abbott said. “We wanted to control the ball, got into some short yardage situations and we were fortunate to keep the clock moving on a night where ball security was needed. I was just very happy with how well the kids played tonight.”

It also helped that Maden gave the Gulls a 14-0 lead in the first quarter. After South Bend lost a fumble inside the Raymond 5-yard line, the Gulls got back to the 23-yard line before Maden struck again. Making one cut inside-out to the left, the sophomore sprinted 77 yards for the touchdown.

Edwards got his first touchdown, a 1-yard plunge, early in the second quarter and ran exclusively between the tackles on a 75-yard, 5 1/2 minute march for a 21-0 lead.

Once South Bend found its footing, it picked up the tempo and was rewarded with its first touchdown — a 71-yard pass play from Drew Rose to Raul Mora with less than 2 minutes remaining in the first half. Mora got open deep on Rose’s play-action fake and, after the catch, used the back judge as a pick to slow down a Raymond defender just shy of the goal line.

Raymond, leading 21-6 with 1:46 left in the half, judiciously used its rushing attack and timeouts to get to midfield with 16 seconds remaining. Then, quarterback Jack Jordan hit Brandt Rockwell on a 49-yard seam route for a momentum-grabbing touchdown and a 27-6 halftime lead.

From there, Edwards’ 3-yard touchdown run on Raymond’s first drive of the second half, plus a 2-point conversion run, set up a 35-6 lead midway through the third quarter.

South Bend gave its Senior Night/Homecoming crowd something to cheer about with two touchdown drives. In the third quarter, Rose hit Chase Flynn for a 22-yard scoring pass play at 35-12. In the fourth, Ben Byington broke away for a 36-yard scoring run to end the scoring at 35-18 with 10:51 left in the contest.

Raymond effectively killed any South Bend comeback attempt with a 7 1/2-minute drive following Byington’s touchdown to end the contest.

On Friday, Raymond will host rival Pe Ell-Willapa Valley, while South Bend travels to Westport to take on Ocosta.