It took seven minutes to roll your eyes, stretch, and prepare for another long Springfield Spartans football season.

But after another 17, you were scratching your chin, regretting your statement, and looking forward to the start of the second half.

The Spartans recovered from a rough start, but weren’t able to make up enough ground, falling in their opening game to Ellet, 33-7.

The Spartans gave up two turnovers in their first two drives of the game, each of which resulted in an Ellet touchdown. Minutes later the Orangemen forced Springfield to punt, and, facing third and eight, Ellet junior Devin Richardson broke away for a 76-yard touchdown and 20-0 lead.

"We came out and felt ready, and with those turnovers and couple big plays, [Ellet] went up quick," Springfield head coach Kevin Vaughn said. "It’s tough mentally to come back from that."

Richardson was one of Ellet’s three "D"s that pounded Springfield on big plays. He amassed 181 yards on 26 carries, while teammates Davon Robertson had 113 on 36 carries, and Devin Smith had a 55-yard run.

Following the 20-0 deficit, the Spartans held the Orangemen scoreless for the remaining five minutes of the first quarter, and the entire second quarter. Meanwhile, they put together a 44-yard drive to score in the waning seconds before halftime.

Facing third and nine from Ellet’s 32-yard-line, quarterback Scotty Cole hooked up with junior Brandon Gower on a 17-yard first down. Cole ran the next play seven yards to Ellet’s eight-yard line, then rolled right and hit running back Joey Errington in the chest for a touchdown.

Springfield fell behind again in the second half when Ellet quickly tossed a 45-yard touchdown pass down the right sideline.

"We responded well in the second quarter, and had good momentum going into halftime," Vaughn said. "But that big pass play hurt us."

Ellet added to their lead 25 seconds into the fourth quarter with Smith’s 55-yard touchdown run.

The Spartans had an opportunity to score in the series before that play, but two sacks moved Springfield from Ellet’s 24-yard line to a turnover on downs at their 45.

Springfield struggled offensively in the game, amassing just over 100 yards. The Orangemen, led by breakaway carries, had 326 rushing yards.

The Spartans play their first home game Friday against Green.

Both head coaches were inducted at halftime into Ellet’s first Hall of Fame class. Ellet’s Joe Yost is in his 30th year as head coach, and Springfield’s Kevin Vaughn, who played under Yost, is in his first year as a head coach. Vaughn graduated from Ellet in 1997, and missed the halftime announcement because he was in the locker room with his team. Ellet hosted a dinner banquet for inductees Thursday night…..Springfield junior Steven Cole was the back-up quarterback and a back-up defensive back, but may be more after this week. Cole (one of three "Cole’s" on the team), had two fumble recoveries and an interception to recover three of Ellet’s four turnovers in the game..…Springfield freshman Dillon Matthews made a case for player of the week. In the freshman game against Ellet, Matthews ran his first three carries for touchdowns of 70, 70 and 50 yards. The 5’6", 140-pound running back and linebacker isn’t expected to move up to the varsity level yet, but if he keeps this up, we may be seeing him sooner than we think.

Game notes: