A fast start usually spells success for one team and doom for the other.

Williamsburg started out strong, scoring points in the first half and held on for the 45-28 victory over Oskaloosa Friday night in their Class 3A, District 5 encounter at Community Stadium.

The Raiders (5-0 overall, 3-0 district) had 344 of their 485 yards of total offense in the first half and hung on for the win.

“We didn’t play very good defense (in first half) and we had some chances offensively,” Oskaloosa coach Darrell Schumacher said. “We had some wrong reads running the ball a little bit.

“Our kids came back in the second half and they didn’t make the wrong reads and they blocked like they should. Our defense stepped it up and played really hard. It was a real hard-knocking game and we’re excited about that opportunity. We have to keep improving on this and we’re not satisfied with this loss.”

Williamsburg senior tailback Ross Doehrmann was the workhorse as he logged the ball 35 times for a mammoth 312 yards and the game’s first two touchdowns in the first quarter.

Doehrmann, who had 12 runs of 10 yards or more, had three of them on the opening drive, including a 34-yard gallop that got him into the end zone for the 7-0 lead with just under 4 minutes gone in the first quarter.

Doehrmann made it 14-0 on a 10-yard scamper in the final minute of the period after Cameron Carder recovered a fumble by the Indians’ Jon Eveland at the Williamsburg 25. After Doehrmann’s second touchdown of the game, it looked like the rout was on.

But the Indians (2-3, 2-1) came right back with a bang thanks to the legs of senior Jordan VanWyk, playing in place of the injured Tye Sparks.

VanWyk took the ensuing kickoff by Carder at the Oskaloosa 5 and VanWyk ran up the middle through and past every Raider on the field. He didn’t stop until he got to the end zone 95 yards away to get the homecoming crowd going and cutting the deficit to 14-7 33 seconds from the end of the quarter.

“That was pretty special,” Schumacher said of VanWyk’s return. “He had a great game. He had some misreads early on, but he ran really well in the second half.”

The Raiders got back in control of the game by scoring three times in the second quarter, two on passes from Tanner Blomme to Jacob Koenighain.

Williamsburg increased the advantage to 14 as Koenighain caught a 4-yard pass from Blomme that capped off a 70-yard drive that took less than 3 minutes off the clock.

After forcing the Indians to punt after three plays, Blomme found Koenighain and Austin Wheeler for a pair of passes for 33 yards and Jake Masterson went the final 14 yards for the touchdown to put the score 28-7 with 6:20 left in the opening half.

The Indians, however, wasted little time in making it a two-touchdown difference again thanks to a little trickery.