GOOSE LAKE —Shutouts were commonplace for Northeast a year, and the Rebels gave an indication that their defense is stout again as they opened the high school football season with a 21-0 win against an improved Camanche team Friday night.

“I think we’re as good as last year, maybe a little better,” senior defensive tackle Ivan Sandoval said of the defensive unit that limited the Indians to 62 total yards in the non-district game.

Brian Hoffmann made a pair of stops on short-yardage third-down plays in the first half, and Sandoval made four consecutive tackles for loss in the third quarter as Northeast’s defense made sure Camanche couldn’t get any momentum going.

“They hurt us with a couple of big plays on defense,” Camanche senior quarterback Blake Bark said. Sandoval’s string of big plays started when he dropped Bark for 7-yard loss on fourth-and-1 -- “I was looking for a quarterback sneak,” Sandoval said -- and continued with two sacks of Bark on the next series.

“We knew coming in our defense would be quite strong,” Northeast coach Jeremy Mosier said. “We’re quite strong. Coaches talk about defenses being ahead of offenses this time of year.”

Northeast had its moments on offense, too. Senior Ryan Krogmann caught a pair of touchdown passes, and an inexperienced running game got solid efforts from a pair of newcomers at halfback. Mitchell Bielenberg ran 10 times for 48 yards, and Michael Alexander carried 11 times for 40 yards and scored once.

“I was very pleased with the halfbacks,” Mosier said. “(Graduating all-stater Jake) Dever leaves a gaping hole, and we’re going to have to do it by committee. I think it worked. And with Matt Clark (nine carries, 34 yards) at fullback, if we needed a couple of yards, he established himself in the trenches. He’s a cloud-of-dust guy.”

Senior quarterback Jordan Howe also applauded the efforts of the junior halfbacks behind him.

“They played some very good ball,” he said. “Losing Dever, one of the best players ever here, we knew there were some holes to fill.”

With less-experienced backs behind him, Howe also is ready to open up the offense a bit more with a year of experience under center. He completed eight of 14 passes for 68 yards.

“I expect to see that we might have to open it up more,” he said. “I feel good. I have one of the best lines in the state. I felt comfortable, and I can’t complain about pressure. It seemed like I had a window to throw and plenty of time.”

Howe directed a 13-play, 59-yard scoring drive on the opening possession, capping it with a 12-yard scoring pass to Krogmann with 7 minutes, 6 seconds remaining in the first period. He rolled left and found Krogmann coming underneath.

Northeast’s next possession resulted in a 15-play, 61-yard drive that ate up 7:27. Alexander finished that one with a 3-yard run for a 14-0 lead with 7:30 left in the second quarter.

Northeast scored its final touchdown in the fourth quarter, on the first play after Howe was shaken up on a run and forced to leave the game. His replacement, Jed Rogis, connected with Krogmann on a 21-yard scoring pass.

“He looked pretty good,” Howe said. “We see that in practice every day with him.”

Camanche made Northeast work for everything it got. The Rebels managed 235 yards against the Indians.

“We knew Camanche was a much-improved team from last year,” Howe said. “They have a lot of athletic seniors that we’ve been seeing since we began football. We knew they’d be ready to play.”

Bark said he could see improvement from the Indians, who were 0-10 last season.

“Last year they beat us 41-zip,” he said. “Plus, we were in this game the whole way.”

Camanche coach Steve Dougherty also saw positives from his team.

“The kids played hard; that’s the first thing I noticed,” he said. “This is a good measuring stick for us. That’s how we have to look at it. There were several things we didn’t do well. If we fix that, we’ll be in a position to be successful.”

Indians end/linebacker Patrick McManus said, “We had some first-game kinks that hurt us.”

Teammate Kastriot Asani added: “We’ve got to work those out. We’re going to improve on every facet.”

They convinced Mosier of that.

“Camanche is much-improved,” he said. “They’re a 2A school on the way up, I think.”

Camanche plays its home opener next Friday against Bellevue, while Northeast travels to North Cedar.