FAIRFIELD — As soon as Colton Carter saw open field Friday night, he knew nothing was stopping him.

“Once (you’re in the open), you’re just like, ‘I got this,” he said.

Carter’s third and final touchdown — a 46-yard rumble down the middle of the field — punctuated a 26-0 season-opening victory for the Lawrence football team over Gardiner in a Class B North game at Keyes Field.

“It’s good to have a good start like that,” Lawrence head coach John Hersom said. “I think we earned it, that’s a positive thing. Our kids respond well when they are challenged, and Gardiner was a team that definitely challenged us. They answered that.”

Carter, a senior, ran for 153 yards — 125 in the second half — on 16 carries. He had a 2-yard scoring run, as well as a 21-yard touchdown run.

Senior running back Dustan Hunter-Bellows rushed for 104 yards on nine carries for Lawrence.

The ground game paced the Bulldogs’ offense. Hunter-Bellows, who previously played at Waterville, used his lateral quickness to get around Gardiner defenders. He led the offense with 60 yards on seven carries in the first half.

“He’s just come to us this year, he’s a good kid and a hard worker,” Hersom said of Hunter-Bellows. “He deserves a game like this tonight. He made a big difference in the first half when we weren’t really keeping stuff going. He made some nice plays in the second half, too.”

Carter used his power game to grind down the Tiger defense in the second half, having success on sweeps to the outside for big gains.

“Coach (Hersom) talked to the linemen at halftime, and I just think that helped us fire off really well (in the second half),” he said. “I think that’s what we needed, just that one break, and to really fire off the ball and get going.”

Lawrence didn’t throw a pass in the second half, but quarterback Michael Hamlin completed four of his six attempts for 42 yards, including a 17-yard touchdown pass to junior receiver Leighton Bradford on a corner route to give Lawrence a 6-0 lead in the first quarter.

Gardiner (0-1) fought hard, but suffered injuries throughout the contest. Momentum was also lost on a key touchdown that was negated on a penalty. Quarterback Asher Nagy hit junior Owen Chadwick on a screen pass for a 62-yard touchdown, but a block in the back penalty negated the score.

“We had some injuries up front and had about three freshmen playing tonight,” said Gardiner head coach Pat Munzing. “When injuries start to pile up, it’s later in the season.

“Lawrence was really stout up front, we knew we were going to have a hard time running the ball. We took some chances (through the air) and we hit a few. We just kind of sputtered at times. That gets tough when you’re behind a team that’s really well coached and really well disciplined.”

Nagy was 12 of 24 passing for 104 yards. Junior Henry Gingras had a 57-yard kickoff return for the Tigers.