Despite a slow start, the Bainbridge High School varsity football team’s first home game ended with a win: 28-21 against the Olympic High School Trojans.

The Spartans (1-1, following a loss to North Kitsap the week before) persevered through cold rain and a whole pack of penalties to, before stands crowded with cheering fans, even up their overall record and dish out Olympic’s second straight loss this season during the nonconference matchup Friday, Sept. 7.

BHS Head Coach Jeff Rouser praised the team, especially the offensive line, but said the win was “not a surprise.”

“We have great athletes, smart kids, and they work together when they come off the ball and that group is going to make us have a great season,” he said. “It takes a while to build a program and to build confidence and these guys are learning how to win.”

Defensively, the coach said there was work to do, though the team did admirably considering the quality of the opponent.

“We did a pretty good job bottling them up on defense,” he said. “They scored a little bit at the end, but oh well.”

The night began with the traditional home opener tailgate party across the street at the Masonic Lodge, complete with band and cheer squad performances.

Then, a scoreless first quarter saw much scrambling outside the end zones.

Bainbridge was first on the board, with about nine minutes left in the first half. Olympic evened things up though (7-7), just a few minutes later.

The Spartans led 13-7 as the half came to a close, kept the visitors largely scoreless in the third and leapt ahead again (21-7) with about three minutes left in the penultimate quarter.

Putting up some points in the fourth, Olympic gained ground but was unable to get in front of the Spartan scoring machine, led by senior quarterback Gannon Winker, who ran for 100 yards, threw for 74 and scored three of the team’s touchdowns.

Fellow Spartan star Max McLeod rushed for 56 yards and caught a 22-yard touchdown pass. On defense, he blocked a field goal and made several crucial tackles.

Penalties plagued both sides, with the Spartans capping the night with 17 (five for illegal shifts).

“We got a lot of improving to do,” Rouser said. “It’s too sloppy. The ball hit the ground a couple of times; I don’t like that. Too many penalties, so we got to figure that out.

“We still could play cleaner games, but we haven’t been able to beat Olympic and we beat them this year.”

He praised the Trojans as well.

“They had a good team,” he said. “They got a hell of a lot of good athletes on that football team. They got two of the fastest kids in the state.”

To win the first home game of the year was “huge,” Rouser said, and just the thing to get the Spartans moving forward from their loss to NK.

“We more than held our own with North Kitsap,” he said. “Our first three games are tough games. Last week we were this close. We could have won that game, but we didn’t. But we won this one.”

The Spartans will play at home again at 7 p.m. Friday, Sept. 14 against Lakeside, and again at the same time the following Friday against Ingraham, before setting off on a three-game away schedule.

BHS Senior Night and Homecoming is slated for 7 p.m. Friday, Oct. 19, against West Seattle.