A trio of Haskell defenders wraps up South Dakota Tech's Dustin Meneley, forcing a fumble. The Hardrockers nonetheless edged HINU, 17-3, Saturday. Story on page 8C.

Baker's frank Owens (21) runs to the end zone. The Wildcats won, 40-14, Saturday in Baldwin City.

Baldwin City ? Baker University’s home football opener had a new-school-meets-old-school feel about it Saturday at Liston Stadium.

On the same day that the school unveiled a new, sleeker and more colorful Wildcat mascot with bright orange fur to match Baker’s helmets, the football players wore black jerseys and pants like the Wildcat teams of the early ’90s.

The Wildcats played like one of former coach the late Charlie Richard’s teams as well, defeating Culver-Stockton, 40-14.

Current coach Mike Grossner’s squad (1-1) ran for 220 yards, passed for 267 and was up 30-0 late in the third quarter. Grossner said the balanced approach made Baker successful.

“I think that helped us in the first half – throwing the football, being able to dink and dunk and then hammer a run at them every once in a while,” he said.

The Wildcats’ ground attack was led by running back Frank Owens, who had 14 carries, 107 yards (becoming the first Wildcat to reach the century mark since John Reeves in 2004) and a TD.

Freshman Blaine Crow came three yards shy of 100 on 10 carries in the second half and scored a TD.

Sophomore quarterback Mack Brown went 22-for-33 for 263 yards, an interception and two touchdowns. Receivers Brad Fawcett and Brett Woods were the recipients on the scores.

Baker’s kicker, junior Derek Doerfler, made history when he booted a 57-yard field goal – a Baker record – in the second quarter to put his team up, 16-0. The former record of 53 yards was set by Mike Gardner in 1988.

“Coach lets me kick them in practice, but I wasn’t sure if he was going to let me take one in a game, and I got hold of it,” Doerfler said, adding that he had a slight wind at his back on the record-breaker.

The former Baker soccer player learned he had set the mark over the public-address system just before he booted one of his three touchbacks on the ensuing kickoff.

Grossner also was pleased with the team’s defense in the first half. Senior linebacker Brad Page had two big plays to lead that effort. He returned an interception for a TD and sacked Culver-Stockton quarterback Dustin Jacoby on a fourth-and-inches play with less than a minute to play in the half.

Page credited the defensive scheme for putting him and his teammates in position.

“It feels great to know that we can bury a team early and not worry about them coming back too much,” Page said, adding that he likes the talent throughout the Baker roster this season.

“We’ve got the weapons now. As long as we put them to good use, we’ll be all right,” he said.

Is the secret weapon the all-black unis?

“Maybe. I’m not going to tell,” Page said. “Hopefully we’ll go back to the tradition – the way it was about 10 years ago.”