Bainbridge pounds the Vikings 41-7 for the Spartans’ fourth straight rivalry win.

With the game between Bainbridge and North Kitsap well in hand, the Bainbridge student section added insult to injury.

“Back to Wal-Mart!” they chanted. “Back to Wal-Mart!”

But the Vikings won’t find any comfort at the Supercenter store, nor will they like watching the film from the 41-7 defeat the Spartans pinned on them Friday night in front of a big crowd.

It’s the fourth straight year that Bainbridge has beaten North Kitsap, the first time that’s happened in the history of their rivalry.

“It feels great on the rivalry side, but I’m happy for the kids,” head coach Andy Grimm said. “They had a good performance tonight. We do what we do well and tonight we controlled the line of scrimmage well.”

Senior fullback Dayton Gilbreath shone the brightest on the opening game of the 2007 season, rushing 18 times for 107 yards and four touchdowns.

“You never know how you are the first game, but we came out, worked hard and scored on our first drive,” Gilbreath said. “We knew that their seniors wanted to come get us because they haven’t beaten us before. They came prepared, but we adjusted and made it work.”

He also got help from fellow backfield mates Ross Cobb and Kauika Peleti, who rushed for 107 and 55 yards, respectively.

The defense continued its strong play from last season, forcing four turnovers and keeping North Kitsap’s starting quarterback Kevin Stringer on the run for most of the night.

Offensively, Bainbridge took control on the first drive of the game.

Gilbreath thought he had a touchdown when he caught a short screen pass from quarterback Jordan Wagner and raced the rest of the way, but it was called back for a holding penalty.

The Vikings committed a costly penalty of their own when they were caught offsides on a third and 14, cutting the distance down to get the first down two plays later.

Wagner kept the drive going with a 26-yard completion to Steffen Dacquisto.

Gilbreath finished it with a eight-yard run for the score.

“I like long drives,” he said. “It tires out the defense, it made us look good and we can get some plays run.”

After the two sides traded punts, Gilbreath, Cobb and Peleti combined for 64 yards on nine plays on their next drive before Gilbreath scored from one yard out.

On their next drive, Cobb had runs of 18 and 23 yards to get Bainbridge near the goal line.

Gilbreath ended it when he ran the sweep around the left side to score his third touchdown of the half.

The Vikings stole some of the Spartans’ thunder when they scored on the second play from scrimmage in the second half. Kyle Brose took a screen pass from Stringer, got some good blocks and raced 75 yards for the score.

“We had talked all half about not letting them back in,” Grimm said. “Kauika was making the read and did a nice job coming up and as soon as he came up they got him. The safety that was supposed to help out got caught out of position.”

That was the lone bright spot for North, however, as Max Olson returned the kickoff to midfield.

The Spartans were forced to punt, but an offsides call on the Vikings cut the distance to a fourth and one.

On the next play, North committed a unsportsmanlike conduct penalty to get Bainbridge the first down, then a Viking pass interference penalty on the next play put the Spartans inside the 20.

Peleti and Wagner got the offense close enough to score Gilbreath from four yards out.

The Vikings continued to struggle, as Gilbreath and Dacquisto recovered fumbles on consecutive drives to end any chances of a comeback.

Bainbridge converted one turnover into points when Cobb ran in from 10 yards out. He marched in again from 13 yards out with 8:51 left in the fourth to round out the scoring.

“We look at these first few games as kind of like practice,” Gilbreath said. “We want to work hard and get the kinks out, but we’re really looking forward to our regular season.”

Fans of opposing teams can look forward to bleachers for the next home game after the portable bleachers Bainbridge uses were deemed unsafe during a inspection of the field before the NK matchup.

Bainbridge athletic director Annette Duvall said they’ll have something worked out when Eastside Catholic comes to the island Sept. 21.

“We’ll have things for people to sit on,” she said. “Whether we rent them and pull them in for a temporary situation or whether we have a permanent structure hasn’t been determined yet.

“We definitely need someplace for the opponent to sit. I think it would be a reasonable expectation for a host and hopefully we can come up with that.”

Bainbridge goes on the road next week to Bremerton. Game time is at 7 p.m.