The Heritage football team broke out of the opening gate of the 2011 season, by breaking big plays in a 34-14 win over Salem on Friday.

The Patriots gave up 105 yards on penalties, but were able to overcome the 10 flags with several big plays, including three runs of over 40 yards each for touchdowns. Heritage put up 354 yards on 24 carries, led by Quami Stanley with 209 yards and two touchdowns on nine carries, and Dominic Craft with 72 yards and a touchdown on eight carries.

"Those guys can flat out run and boy it's good to have them on our team," Heritage coach Chad Frazier said.

Stanley and Craft took over in the second half after a first half in which the two cross-town rivals were close throughout, with the exception of two Salem Seminoles' turnovers.

After moving 34 yards on its first drive of the season, Salem made it just 17 yards on its second drive before quarterback Damion Gordon fumbled the ball on a pitch.

Heritage's Tyler Weaver was there to pick up the ball and ran it 13 yards into the end zone to get the Patriots on the board 7-0 after an extra point by Chris Raines.

Raines came onto the field for a second time after another fumble by Salem, but this time his 37-yard field goal attempt was blocked.

The game remained 7-0 late in the second quarter before Heritage's sophomore quarterback Ryan Sutton found Steven Everson 49 yards down the field. After the Patriots moved into the red zone they brought in Raines for a 35-yard three-point attempt, which he kicked through the middle of the goal posts as time expired on the first half.

"You can't have unforced errors," Salem coach John Starr said. "I felt like if we kept it close early, and did not get behind we had a legitimate chance."

From there, momentum - and it seemed the game - flew out of the Salem Seminoles' hands.

Heritage, which received the opening kickoff of the second half, ran the ball to the strong side, before coming back on the second play of the half to the weak side, and let Stanley do the rest.

The senior tailback then sprinted for 64 yards into the end zone.

"I felt like we had a little momentum going into halftime, plus we got the ball at the start of the second half," Frazier said. "Then we scored and that really put big Mo(mentum) back on our side."

Salem made an attempt to take that momentum away, and put seven points on the scoreboard, but it wasn't enough. The Salem Seminoles capped off a 55-yard drive with a 10-yard pass from Gordon to Lorenzo McWilliams with 5:10 left in the third quarter. Daniel Whitson's extra point made it a 10-point game, 17-7.

Heritage ended the third quarter on a 27-yard field goal by Raines, and from there Salem couldn't stop the big plays.

Midway through the fourth quarter, Stanley again broke free for Heritage and shrugged off a defender in the open field to rumble 86 yards for the score.

Not to be outdone, Craft also made the most of a handoff in the fourth quarter, as he turned what would have been a loss into a 47-yard touchdown with several cut backs and even more jukes.

Salem continued until the end as Gordon scored on a 22-yard run with 13.9 seconds left, but it wasn't enough to overcome the Patriots, who are trying to repeat as a playoff team.

"The score looks bad, but I didn't feel like we played near as bad as the score," Starr said.

Heritage will host Clarke Central on Friday, while Salem travels to Madison County.

* The Heritage vs. Salem game will available as a video stream onto www.ghsa.net in its on demand section under Rockdale Career Academy.