Bend High’s first game as a Class 6A football program could not have gone much better for the Lava Bears.

The Bears forced four Barlow turnovers en route to a 55-21 shellacking of the Bruins at Bend High on Friday night.

Kyle Reed rushed for 95 yards and scored two touchdowns for the Bears, and Payton Davis ran for 75 yards and also had two touchdowns. Quarterback Cooper Simmonds threw two touchdown passes and ran for another TD.

Bend (1-0), which this year jumps up a classification from Class 5A, wasted little time proving it can hang in 6A.

“Any time you move divisions, I think that other teams question exactly what they’re going to get when you step up to that level,” said Bend coach Matt Craven. “Your own kids can even question it. But this team really had no doubt tonight. They played with a lot of self-confidence, and I think we played extremely physical and hard. We were relentless, and we executed really well for a first game.”

The Lava Bears forced three turnovers in the first half to cruise to a 35-14 lead by halftime.

Bend struck first when Simmonds rolled to his left and found a wide-open Reed for a 79-yard touchdown.

The Bears soon found themselves in scoring position yet again after recovering a fumble deep in Barlow territory, but two plays later Simmonds was intercepted by Jobadiah Malary, who returned it 58 yards to tie the game 7-7.

After that, though, Bend went on a tear.

Early in the second quarter, Reed tipped and intercepted a pass and returned it to the Barlow 25-yard line. A few plays later, Simmonds scrambled into the end zone from 8 yards out to give Bend a 21-7 lead.

Another Bend interception, this one by Cade Shields, led to another Bears score. Tysen Scott caught a Simmonds pass tipped by a Barlow defender in the end zone for an 18-yard touchdown and a 28-7 lead for Bend.

A 15-yard touchdown run by Davis gave the Bears the 35-14 lead by halftime.

“This is a fairly veteran team, and a lot of times veteran teams are able to handle the first-game jitters,” Craven said, “I think we did tonight. We had a tremendous first half and we played outstanding defense. They (the Bruins) have a couple of weapons on offense who can break 80 yards at any given moment. We did a good job of containing that.”

The onslaught continued in the second half, as Nate Denney returned the opening kickoff for a touchdown and a 42-14 Bears lead.

Two fumbled snaps by Barlow led to two more touchdowns for Bend. Reed scored on an 11-yard run after Barlow muffed the snap on a punt and gave the Bears good field position.

Seith Bahr fell on the ball in the end zone after the Bruins fumbled another snap to give Bend the 55-21 lead.

Things got a bit ugly in the fourth quarter, as the Bears were flagged for several unsportsmanlike-conduct penalties.

“The game degenerated a bit there in the second half, but I was really happy with our execution,” Craven said. “For the most part, we executed well and we didn’t turn the ball over a ton.”

—Reporter: 541-383-0318, mmorical@bendbulletin.com