PINEVILLE — Louisiana Christian University picked up where it left off last season, overwhelming East Texas Baptist 34-14 Thursday night at Wildcat Field to notch its seventh straight win.

In the season opener, billed as “The Battle for the Border Claw” between teams that became intense rivals during joint membership in the American Southwest Conference, the Wildcats quickly took control.

“(In the) first game, any time you can beat a rival opponent like that, it’s big for our crowd, big for the fan base and hopefully we can build off it,” LCU coach Drew Maddox told KALB-TV afterward.

Maddox was especially pleased with the defensive effort that kept the visitors contained all night.

“It was a full effort. They scored a trash touchdown late with a couple minutes to go, really had only one touchdown all night, so the whole defense gets the credit for that. It was a collective effort,” he said.

Taevion Cunningham scored LCU’s first touchdown with a 5-yard run to erase an early 7-3 ETBU advantage. Quarterback Sal Palermo put the Wildcats ahead to stay with a 3-yard TD run and the home team gradually took command, opening a 24-7 halftime advantage.

LCU ran for 238 yards and added 91 passing, with Palermo keeping the Tigers honest on 10 of 16 aim with no interceptions in the first game under new offensive coordinator David Feaster.

Defensively, the Wildcats recorded sacks and tackles behind the line to push ETBU backyards for 68 yards, leaving the visitors’ rushing net at just 135 yards. The Tigers netted only 287 total yards despite running more plays, 74-61, than LCU.

Daylon Charles led the winners with 119 yards rushing on 14 tries and Devin Briscoe added 91 more, also on 14 carries. Eight different LCU receivers caught at least one pass. Levi Hilborn kicked a pair of field goals in front of 748 fans at Wildcat Stadium.

Next Saturday, LCU hosts Arkansas Baptist.