Telegraph photo by TOM KING Timberlane Ethan Stewart loses the football near the goal line thanks to HB's Blake Bergerson, right. Stewart recovered it in the end zone for the Owls' only TD in a 34-8 loss to the Cavs in Hollis on Saturday.

HOLLIS – The Cavaliers are back. Pass the word.

The defending Division II champion Hollis Brookline football team christened its new turf field with a 34-8 pasting of Timberlane, and have now fought back to a 2-2 mark after a tough 0-2 start.

“When you can do both things (run and pass), it makes a difference,” HB coach Chris Lones said. “Defensively, we were outstanding. … And moving forward, that’s how we’ve got to be. You want to get back to where you were? That’s how you’ve got to do it.”

The way the game started, it looked like HB would have its hands full. After a punt pinned the Cavs on their own one, the Owls got a safety with an end zone tackle about six minutes in.

And when Owls QB Ethan Stewart found Bob Olson for a 27-yard gain to the 5-yard line, it looked like Timberlane was on its way to expanding that early 2-0 lead. But Olson’s knee came down a yard shy, and the Cavs stuffed the Owls on fourth-and-1.

On the very next play, HB super back Marc-Andre Thermitus went 95 yards left end and ran in a 2-point conversion for an 8-2 HB lead with 2:56 left in the first – a lead they never lost.

Things changed that quickly.

“The first five minutes, we didn’t play very well,” Lones said. “We were trying to figure things out instead of just going out there and make plays. But after the first five minutes, it was outstanding.”

“Maybe we had a little momentum early but we did not seize it,” Owls coach Kevin Fitzgerald said, his team also now 2-2. “But we didn’t play well enough at all.”

The lead grew to 15-2 when HB’s Blake Bergerson found himself all alone by at least 20 yards to grab a perfect pass from senior QB Drew Gryniewicz for a 60-yard TD with 5:44 left in the second quarter.

It was the first of four Gryniewicz TD strikes, as he tossed a 39-yarder to Isaiah Velez with 1:56 left in the half. That came about a minute after Stewart recovered his own fumble in the end zone to bring the Owls to within 15-8, but the Cavs’ answer made it 21-8 at the half.

HB never let up. After another defensive red zone stop, the Cavs expanded things to 27-8 with 5:16 left in the third quarter when Gryniewicz found Bergerson in the flat, but surrounded. Somehow he escaped untouched for a 90-yard TD.

A Gryniewicz 13-yard TD flip to Jack Delaney and John Kotelly’s PAT boot with 5:38 to play finished the scoring.

Offensively, the Owls were stymied as HB sacked Stewart four times and picked him off twice.

“They did a great job today,” Fitzgerald said. “They exposed us in the pass game for sure, and we weren’t able to run the ball with the same success we had the last few weeks. Again, credit to them defensively, they were physical today. More physical than us in places, and that’s the result you get.”

Lones said that was by design, because he felt the Owls would bring that same approach. The Cavs just beat them to it.

“You don’t show up and play your best game, this group is going to come down here and punch you right in the mouth,” Lones said.

Instead, the Cavaliers did the punching, figuratively speaking, and produced their best game of the season.

“Of the four, absolutely,” Lones said. “That’s how you’ve got to do it. Play complete.”

And get that mojo back.