WYOMING — It’s amazing what a first victory of the season can change.

A closing rendition of the Fruitport fight song was sung with a little more gusto, and the smile on senior Blair Zimmer’s face couldn’t have been wiped off with sandpaper, after the Trojans trounced host Kelloggsville 49-8 on Friday in the O-K Silver conference opener for both squads.

After two tough losses to open the season, the Trojans improved to 1-2 while handing the Rockets their first setback of the fall.

“It feels great to get that first win of the year,” said Zimmer, the Trojans’ dynamic receiver and defensive back. “We had a great week of practice and we knew we wanted to get that conference win. It’s really a boost of confidence for us.  You could tell the difference tonight. We really tried to push the pace.”

Aside from a much-needed bolt of big plays offensively, Fruitport’s biggest key to victory was its ability to force turnovers on defense.

The Trojans picked off Kelloggsville senior quarterback Cameron Dunbar four times, and they also recovered a muffed punt and a fumble in the end zone in the first half, for a total of six turnovers.

Fruitport head coach Nate Smith credited defensive coordinator Jason Duram for getting the unit ready to face an offense with a fair share of explosive athletes. A drill the defense works on nearly every day in practice paid big dividends, he said.

“We work on a turnover drill just about every day, so our guys are really hungry to get them,” said Smith, whose squad has now beaten the Rockets in back-to-back seasons. “We knew we had to play a physical style of defense tonight. This offense they have is explosive, but I think we were really dialed in, and when we’re focused like that, it helps in forcing those turnovers.”

The Rockets were sloppy both offensively and on special teams. They muffed a punt with three minutes left in the first quarter near their own end zone, the ball bounced around and was eventually pounced on by Fruitport nose tackle Angel Krueger at the 1 yard-line.

That set up a short touchdown run by junior Josh Eppard on the ensuing play for the game’s first score with 2:46 left in the first.

On Kelloggsville’s next possession, a handoff between Dunbar and running back Keyontae Gibson was botched, and Eppard jumped on the loose ball in the end zone for a touchdown. The extra point put Fruitport up 14-0 with 1:25 left.

The turnover bug continued to bite the Rockets early in the second quarter. Zimmer picked off a pass at the Kelloggsville 38, which started another scoring drive, capped by a 1-yard plunge by quarterback Brady Hanson. The PAT kick put the Trojans up 21-0.

The second interception of the first half was a tremendous play by Trojans’ cornerback DayDay Williams, who had tight coverage on a Rockets receiver and ripped the ball out of his hands with 2:14 left in the half.

The Trojans drove to Kelloggville’s 31 with 11 seconds left, and Hanson unleashed his best pass of the night, a strike in the end zone to Zimmer, who leaped over a defensive back and came down with the ball.

Zimmer said his touchdown stood out more than his interception.

“Definitely the touchdown,” he said with a grin. “That really was just an amazing feeling.”

Fruitport’s led 28-0 at halftime, and expanded that to 42-0 in the third quarter following touchdown runs of 7 yards by Liam Campbell and 17 yards by Kalan Teeter.

The Trojans’ shutout bid was denied early in the fourth, when the Rockets’ finally broke through on a sweep, scoring a 70-yard touchdown down the home sideline.

Fruitport’s Dariyon Gatlin scored on a 9-yard touchdown run with 1:30 left for the game’s final points.

Teeter and Gideon Marksbury had second-half interceptions for the Trojans.

Eppard led a balanced Trojans’ ground game with 58 yards on 10 carries, while Campbell added 49 yards on nine carries.

Hanson completed 2 of 3 passes for 38 yards. Fruitport outgained Kelloggsville 284-206 in total offense.