Friday night against first-year program Manchester Valley, Williams and the Cougars were enjoying themselves on the right side of a blowout.

With 38 points scored in the first quarter and a defense that held the Mavericks to just 12 yards of offense in the first half, Catoctin cruised to a 51-0 victory to remain unbeaten.

"Our defense is our flagship and we're going to need our defense to be successful. How our defense goes, we go," Williams said.

Catoctin (5-0) is off to its best start since the 1982 and 1983 squads finished unbeaten. The Cougars are averaging 44 points on offense while allowing just seven points a game.

"It feels good to start 5-0, but it feels like everyone's out to get us now," said Cougars quarterback Dylan May, who finished 7-of-13 passing for 100 yards and a touchdown, and intercepted two passes on defense.

"Being 5-0 sounds good," Williams said, "but we've got five more games to play."

The Cougars now shift their focus to Smithsburg, a redemption game of sorts for May and his teammates. The Leopards topped Catoctin 34-6 last year, ruining the Cougars' Homecoming.

"We've got to get them back after they beat us pretty bad," May said.

The Cougars clicked on both sides of the ball despite a driving rain at the beginning of the game. The Cougars outgained the Mavericks (0-5) 291-12 in the first half, not counting Manchester Valley's 40 penalty yards.

May started the scoring surge as he found Nick Nowaczyk on a 7-yard touchdown strike. Austin Carter's two-point conversion made it 8-0 with 10:09 to play in the quarter.

The Mavericks struggled early, going three-and-out on their first possession. Following a Cougars touchdown, Mavericks quarterback Sam Evans threw an interception to his quarterback counterpart in their next drive.

Starting on the Mavericks 33-yard line, May took the offense to the end zone in a minute as Nick Maxey scored on a 5-yard run for a 22-0 lead with 2:32 left in the quarter.

Following Maxey's touchdown, a bobbled kickoff set the Mavericks back on their own 6. Deasean Greene took a pitch in the backfield that the Cougars' Paul Barbour read perfectly, tackling Greene in the end zone for a safety.

Maxey added a 20-yard touchdown run and Carter ran untouched on a 24-yard touchdown run as the Cougars led 38-0 with 1:24 left in the quarter.

Travis Bewley scored a 3-yard touchdown in the third quarter for the Cougars. Maxey capped the scoring with a 61-yard pass to Braden Myers.