RAF MENWITH HILL, England - Senior quarterback Schuyler Backlar rushed 153 yards and two touchdowns and passed for 103 yards and two more scores Saturday to spark the Menwith Hill Mustangs to a 47-12 season-opening Division III victory over the visiting Brussels Brigands.

Backlar took advantage of D-III’s big-play-prone nine-man football to break touchdown runs of 40 and 60 yards, and sandwiched those third-quarter bursts with 50- and 35-yard TD completions to Damon Morris in the first and fourth quarters, respectively. Backlar finished his day with three completions, good for 103 yards, and averaged 15.3 yards per carry on each of his 10 rushes. He also ran for a two-point conversion.

Running back Josh Wilcox, who finished with 131 rushing yards on just seven attempts, also scored two touchdowns, on runs of 85 and 10 yards. Morris ran nine yards for Menwith Hill’s final touchdown, to give him three TDs on the day.

After falling behind 15-0, Brussels made a game of it at halftime on a one-yard TD plunge by quarterback Hayden Pfefferkorn and Will Cole’s 25-yard fumble-return TD. Both scores came in the second period.

Pfefferkorn’s TD was set up by the rushing of Kristian Javier, who finished the day with 146 yards on 15 carries for Brussels.

Christian Burdick kicked two extra points and ran for a two-point conversion for Menwith Hill. He also made five tackles, second on the team to the eight rung up by Ben Milam.

Brussels, which got a team-high eight tackles from Greg Norden, is next scheduled to entertain 2011 D-III runner-up Bamberg on Saturday; the same day the Mustangs are to host the Woodham Warriors, a local English team.

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