NEW WASHINGTON — If Plymouth’s performance in the season-opener is any indication, the Firelands Conference had better be on notice.

The Big Red raced out to a 20-9 first-quarter lead and never looked back in overwhelming Buckeye Central, 70-47, in a battle of backyard rivals.

First-year coach Tim Brafford had his team employ a frenetic style to dictate the pace and create easy scoring opportunities.

“Our practices are pretty brutal. We have 10 kids — we can go five-on-five against each other, playing hard,” Brafford said. “I love to create chaos at practice, where everything is unpredictable.

“We like to run; we like to run defense we push everything in one direction. I knew it would pay off when we got to the games.”

The chaotic pace took its toll early on the Bucks, some of whom were playing varsity basketball for the first time.

“A 10-0 start at least (for Plymouth). You can’t get off to those kinds of starts against those types of teams,” Buckeye Central coach Chris Moyer said. “They want to pressure, they want you to play quick, they’re going to shoot quick.”

The Big Red run was, in fact, 12-0 to begin the game. The Bucks didn’t dent the scoreboard until 6-5 freshman post Hayden Hafner scored at 4:37 of the first period. Hafner finished the game with a team-high 16 points.

All five Plymouth starters scored in the first quarter, hitting four 3-point shots.

“We want to move the ball, play team basketball,” Brafford said. “We look for the open guy. We play 5-out offensively, but we do run some actions that create some opportunities (inside) and that’s what we’re looking for. We’ll shoot 3s and layups all year, that’s what I’m interested in.”

Early foul trouble for post Jeremiah Fishpaw and a second half injury to Alec Phillips further hampered the Bucks’ effort. Fishpaw picked up two fouls in the first period and sat the rest of the half.

“Fish getting two fouls early hurts us more because he’s a pretty good quarterback in the middle in the way were trying to attack the 1-3-1 (defense),” Moyer said. “So, we had to put an inexperienced person there and it cost us.”

Plymouth cooled off in the second quarter, hitting just three of 14 from the floor. But BC was not able to take advantage, connecting on just three of 12 action shots.

The Big Red managed to hit five of seven free throws in the frame. With the Bucks not going to the line in the period, Plymouth added five points to its lead, 32-16, at intermission.

Jarrett Burrer scored 12 of his game-high 21 points in the third quarter as the Big Red lead ballooned to 50-27 after three quarters.

Three of the five Plymouth starters scored in double figures. Desean Winfield seconded Burrer with 15 points and Izaya Reynolds added 11 points and 11 rebounds. Burrer also had 11 boards.

About 3 weeks ago, Izaya started rebounding like a madman,” Brafford said. “Prior to that, he hadn’t. He stayed out of key for the most part or he was soft. He just has started going after the basketball.”

Hafner scored 12 of his 16 points in the fourth quarter for Buckeye Central. His line score was six field goals, all on the block, and five of six from the line.

“It was good to get him his first varsity experience tonight,” Moyer said of his young phenom. “As a freshman, it’s a different environment with the crowd and the big floor. He’s a kid that comes to practice every day, works hard, and he’s very coachable.”

Hunter Caudill was next on the scoring list for the Bucks with 12 points, including three 3s. Donnie Fourtner and Isaiah Kaiser had four rebounds each as BC faced a 46-30 deficit on the glass.

“They’re a good team; they have a couple of injured players. Unfortunately, they lost one tonight,” Brafford said of the Bucks. “A good team’s going to make a run in the second half.

“I think it’s important we continue to push the gas and bury them,” Brafford added.

“We missed so many open guys. We just panicked,” Moyer said. “We had some guys out there that hadn’t played meaningful minutes at varsity level. And there was a little bit of first game jitters. We’ve got to get better at handling pressure. We’re going to see it throughout the year in our league.”

Inexperience and injuries notwithstanding, the coach says the team must move ahead.

“It’s a good lesson for the kids,” Moyer said. “You can’t come in and keep your head down. You’re going to go through adversity every day of your life.”

Plymouth also won the junior varsity game, 47-21. Gabe Cole had a game-high 11 points for the Big Red and Trevor Putt added nine.

Owen Deppen led the Bucks with seven points and Nash Rose finished with six.

Box score

Plymouth               20   12   18   20 — 70

Buckeye Central     9     7    11   20 — 47

Plymouth (1-0): Shots 24-64; 3-pt. shots 7-31 (Lex Grose 2, Jarrett Burrer, Jackson Bays, Izaya Reynolds, Trevor Putt, Mason Stine); Free throws 15-21; Rebounds 46 (Jarrett Beverly 11, Izaya Reynolds 11); Turnovers 16. Scoring: Jarrett Burrer 6 8 21, Jackson Bays 1 2 5, Izaya Reynolds 5 0 11, Dasean Winfield 6 3 15, Lex Grose 3 1 9, Trevor Putt 1 0 3, Mason Stine 2 0 5, Grant Anderson 0 1 1.

Buckeye Central (0-1): Shots 18-52; 3-pt. shots 4-21 (Hunter Caudill 3, Alec Phillips); Free throws 7-13; Rebounds 29 (Donnie Fourtner 4, Isaiah Kaiser 4); Turnovers 22. Scoring: Alec Phillips 2 2 7, Hunter Caudill 4 1 12, Donnie Fourtner 1 0 2, Cade Daniel 1 0 2, Izaya Kaiser 2 0 4, Lane Caudill 2 0 4, Hayden Hafner 6 4 16.

JV: Plymouth 47-21.