The South Cougars kicked off their intra-city portion of the football season with a visit to Central and a 30-0 victory on Thursday.

The Cougar offense struggled early on and it seemed Central would get on the board first, but South’s defense had other ideas.

With the game scoreless, the Mustangs had the ball on the South 1-yard line. But the delivered a defensive stand that changed the course of the game.

“Our offensive sputtered a bit early,” coach Kyle Stucky said. “But our defense came up big.”

After the goal-line stand, the Cougars got on track offensively in the second quarter as quarterback Chris Gaston hit John Pedersen for a 10-yard touchdown, giving the Cougars a 6-0 lead.

In the third quarter, Gaston hit receiver Clarke Cunningham for a 30-yard touchdown strike. Alex Laughlin hauled in the conversion to widen South’s lead to 14-0.

South (3-3) added a pair of rushing touchdowns by Tylin Heath and Marty Williams in the fourth quarter.

The Cougars will travel Oct. 12 to West Junior High.