SEATTLE - Alex Conley, Anthony Fleck, Richmond Baardson, Hank Hilts - whoever lined up in Ferndale's backfield, chances were they were going to score a touchdown.

Even reserve back Brady Bauthues took his turn on the Golden Eagles' running back carousel. There were plenty of touchdowns to go around.

Conley scored three times for his 12th touchdown of the season, Fleck crossed the goal line once, Hilts rumbled for a score, and Baardson found pay dirt on the ground to go along with his two touchdown receptions.

Ferndale rolled over non-conference metro league opponent Garfield 62-12 Friday, Sept. 14, at Seattle Memorial Stadium.

"You put up points like this, and there are positives you can build on," Ferndale coach Jamie Plenkovich said. "It helps when you can spread the ball around between backs. It was nice to get production out of our fullback spot."

Ferndale (3-0, 0-0 NWC) amassed 330 yards on the ground. It was often set up with strong field position and didn't need to navigate up and down the field.

The Golden Eagles' defense limited Garfield to 180 total yards. All but six of those yards came on the ground. And of those 174 rush yards, 97of them happened in the final four minutes of the game against Ferndale's second teamers.

Fleck and Robert Hardin each intercepted a pass, and Ferndale's defense pounced on two Garfield fumbles.

"If we can keep them off the scoreboard, that's a good thing," Plenkovich said. "We were able to create some turnovers tonight, which was nice to see."

The 12 points Garfield scored came on a first half kickoff return, and a 60-yard TD run by running back Demario Hall with 2 minutes, 55 seconds left in the game.

Although Plenkovich said Garfield passed the ball quite a bit during the film he watched while game planning for the Bulldogs, the Golden Eagles quickly neutralized Garfield's run game, which was the Bulldogs' method of choice.

"We expected them to pass the ball more, but we did a good job of shutting down their option game."

Sam Alexander, Anthony Pace, Kameron Mckay and Cameron Ivy were just a few defense players who played a hand in limiting Garfield quarterback Winfred Roberson and his running backs.

Roberson carried the ball 14 times for 57 yards and moved to tailback late in the second quarter.

Ferndale scored seven times on the ground, but quarterback Cooper Clark found Baardson on an 18-yard play action pass touchdown for the first score of the game.

Following an 18-yard TD run by Conley and a 44-yard scamper up the middle by Hilts to put Ferndale in front 21-0, Garfield got on the board with a 79-yard kickoff return by Eugene Garner to cut the Golden Eagles' lead to 21-6.

Ferndale took a 35-6 lead into halftime and quickly put the game away, scoring three times in the first seven minutes of the third quarter.

Baardson caught his second TD pass from Cooper, who finished 2 for 2 with 44 passing yards and two TDs, and Conley and Baardson added scores on the ground.

"It's good that when we took out shots, we made them count," Plenkovich said. "Cooper did a great job."

Fleck led Ferndale with seven carries for 127 yards. Hilts carried the ball six times for 85 yards, and Conley had seven rushes for 56 yards.

Ferndale opens its conference slate with a matchup against Class 2A Burlington-Edison at 7 p.m. Sept. 21, at Burlington-Edison High School.

Reach Andrew Lang at andrew.lang@bellinghamherald.com or call 360-756-2862.

Ferndale 14 21 21 6- 62

Garfield 0 6 0 6- 12

First quarter

Fern - Richmond Baardson 18 pass from Cooper Clark (Wyatt Dunn kick)

Fern - Alex Conley 18 run (Dunn kick)

Second quarter

Fern - Hank Hilts 44 run (Dunn kick)

Gar - Eugene Garner 79 kickoff return (kick fail)

Fern - Anthony Fleck 71 run (Dunn kick)

Fern - Conley 18 run (Dunn kick)

Third quarter

Fern - Baardson 26 pass from Clark (Dunn kick)

Fern - Baardson 16 run (Dunn kick)

Fern - Conley 1 run (Dunn kick)

Fourth quarter

Fern - Brady Bauthues 14 run (kick fail)

Gar - Demario Hall 60 run (run fail)

Fern Gar

First downs 6 9

Rushing Att-Yards 28-330 29-174

Comp-Att-Int 2-2-0 3-10-2

Passing yards 44 6

Penalties-yards 9-75 8-70

Fumbles-lost 1-0 4-2

Individual leaders

RUSHING - Ferndale: Anthony Fleck 7-127, Alex Conley 7-56, Hank Hilts 6-85, Richmond Baardson 3-43, Brady Bauthues 1-14, Marcus Nightingale 1-10, Cooper Clark 3-(-5). Garfield: Winfred Roberson 14-57, Demario Hall 5-70, Liam Albright 4-30, Eugene Garner 4-17, Sam Perkins 2-0.

PASSING - Ferndale: 2-2-0-44 . Garfield: 3-10-2-6.

RECEIVING - Ferndale: Richmond Baardson 2-44. Garfield: Lloyd Proctor 2-5, Jamala Myres 1-1.

Reach ANDREW LANG at andrew.lang@bellinghamherald.com or call ext. 862.