Bishop Guertin's Ethan Labbe, left, and Matt Santosuosso try to bring down Merrimack's Reimello Hyde during Friday night's game in Merrimack. (Photo by Joe Marchilena)

MERRIMACK – The Bishop Guertin High School football team has scored on the opening drive of every game this year.

Against Merrimack on Friday night, the Cardinals didn’t even wait for the offense to take the field.

Ronan Balistreri returned the opening kickoff for a touchdown and the Cardinals scored again to lead by two touchdowns in the first 80 seconds on the way to a 42-6 win over the Tomahawks in a Division I West Conference game.

Bishop Guertin led 35-0 at halftime in getting the program’s first win at Merrimack since 2012.

“When you start with the opening kickoff, we had the issue last week where we let one up, and (Friday) we were able to score on special teams,” Bishop Guertin coach John Trisciani said. “I think it was the best half of BG football that I’ve seen since I’ve been the head coach here. We’re happy with that.”

Matt Santosuosso had three rushing touchdowns for the Cardinals (4-0) to go with 87 yards on 11 carries. The senior was also 5 of 5 passing for 48 yards, while playing only the first half on offense.

With senior running back Charlie Bellavance sidelined with an injury, Ethan Chmielecki stepped in, rushing for 85 yards and a touchdown on 12 carries. Michael MacDonough also ran for a touchdown in the second half.

Merrimack (2-1 in D1, 2-2 overall) struggled to move the ball in the first half, as the Tomahawks lost a fumble on their first play from scrimmage and had just one first down until the final 1:24 of the first half.

“We just couldn’t get into a rhythm,” Merrimack coach Kip Jackson said. “Things just started to snowball and I think the kids were kind of shellshocked.”

On Merrimack’s first play after Balistreri’s special teams score, Reimello Hyde fumbled and Bishop Guertin recovered at the Tomahawks 32-yard line. Two plays later, Chmielecki raced 31 yards for a score and a 14-0 lead just 1:20 into the game.

“Trying to take advantage of any of those opportunities,” Trisciani said. “You really can’t let the momentum go, it’s high school football, they’re high school kids. If you have a bad turnover early in the game, no matter who you are, it sets you back. Then if it’s a bad situation field-position wise, it was fast. You’ve got to take care of the football, limit the turnovers, limit the penalties.”

The Cardinals had three possessions in the second quarter and Santosuosso scored to finish all three of them, with his 2-yard run with 1:24 left in the first half making it 35-0.

MacDonough ended Bishop Guertin’s only drive of the second half with a 5-yard touchdown run with 5:46 remaining to give the Cardinals a 42-0 lead.

Merrimack avoided the shutout, getting a 4-yard touchdown pass from Sahil Mujawar to Jackson Forbes with 22 seconds left.