It’s like Boyle County never said “bye.”

The Rebels had an emphatic “hello” for their fans Friday night as they picked up right where they left off after two weeks of practice and an open date.

They hit the ground running by scoring on their first play from scrimmage to launch an first-half assault that indicated they came out of their bye week exactly as they wanted to.

Boyle scored six times in the first 14 minutes and seven times in the first two periods and its defense kept Russell County off the field in the first half as it rolled to a 55-6 victory at Rebel Stadium.

“We practiced hard the week before and this week, so we knew that we had to get back on track,” said wide receiver Montavin Quisenberry, who scored the Rebels’ first three touchdowns. “We just want to keep on getting better, and it shows on the scoreboard and in how we come out and play.”

Boyle (7-0, 2-0 District 4A-7), which is No. 14 in the MaxPreps and USA Today national rankings, won its 27th consecutive game and gave coach Justin Haddix his 150th career victory.

Haddix was pleased to receive the game ball from his three children, and he was also pleased with the Rebels’ work during their two weeks of practice and in their return to game action.

“We had a good week of practice, and … I felt like they came out and executed what we wanted to, which is good,” said Haddix, who is 60-3 in five seasons at Boyle and 150-41 in 15 seasons overall. “We’ve established a standard when we play: This is what’s expected and how we’re expected to play, and that’s what I was proud of.”

Boyle averaged a touchdown every 2.7 offensive plays in the first half and needed only a single play for four of its scores.

The first of those came when Quisenberry, who only touched the ball in the first quarter but had five catches for 88 yards, turned a short throw from Baylor Murphy into a 51-yard score on the first play after the opening kickoff.

He had another one-play drive just over seven minutes later when he caught another short pass from Murphy on the left side, came all the way back across the field and raced down the right side for his third TD of the first period and his 17th of the season.

“We had a fake screen set up. (Murphy) was supposed to throw it deep, but I guess it was covered and he threw it back to me,” Quisenberry said. “And when I caught it, I saw the line over there and they were all standing still. They weren’t ready, so I just went around real quick and they weren’t expecting it.”

Demauriah Brown authored two single-play drives with touchdown runs of 60 and 50 yards on his only two carries of the game to give Boyle a 33-0 lead in the final minute of the first quarter.

Gage Feltner scored on a 3-yard run to make it 40-0 and start the running clock with 10:18 remaining in the first half, and JiDyn Smith-Hisel caught Murphy’s fourth touchdown pass of the game later in the second quarter.

Murphy was a perfect 11 for 11 for 188 yards, improving his season completion percentage to .809 with 18 touchdowns and no interceptions.

“He’s getting his confidence, and it’s not good for teams if he gets it,” Quisenberry said.

Both Quisenberry and Haddix said Murphy has made great strides since the start of the season.

“I’m hard on him, and he takes coaching and he gets better each week,” Haddix said. “He pays attention and he realizes the situation, and he’s getting a lot better at situations.”

Nine different receivers caught passes for the Rebels. Kain Logan had three catches for 39 yards, one of which resulted in Boyle’s only second-half touchdown. Ten different Rebels ran the ball, and no one had more than two carries.

Boyle outgained Russell 452 yards to 126, getting 218 yards on the ground and 234 through the air.

“I felt like we did a pretty good job blocking on the edge, and we were efficient with the football and didn’t take many negative plays,” Haddix said.

Russell (4-4, 2-1), coached by former Boyle assistant Steven French, managed only 53 yards on 27 plays in the first half. Thirty-two of those yards came on a single reception by Kinnett Wills that gave the Lakers their only advance into Boyle territory until they scored in the third quarter.

“We had one busted coverage there, and that didn’t hurt us tonight but it could hurt you later on,” Haddix said. “Those are things that we’ve got to improve on … but we’re competing and different guys are in, and if you want an option to play you’ve got to go make plays.”

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Boyle continues its district schedule Friday at Lincoln County, the only team without a win in District 4A-7.

Lincoln (4-3, 0-2), in its first season under coach Levi Rogers, won its first four games before losing three straight, including district losses to Russell and Wayne counties by a total of five points.

Four of the Patriots’ seven games have been decided by seven points or less.

Kash Smith leads Lincoln with 737 rushing yards and 10 touchdowns. Brown has 584 yards and seven TDs and Quisenberry has 439 yards and eight TDs to lead Boyle rushers.

Boyle has won the last nine meetings between the teams – all district games and all played since 2001 – by an average score of 54-6.