By CONOR NICHOLL

cnicholl@dailynews.net

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OSBORNE -- Osborne coach Cullen Riner tries to give his team an extremely adverse situation in each practice, a difficult moment they would never encounter in a game. Before Friday's season opener, Riner again emphasized dealing with tough spots in the school's first game in a full year of eight-man football, generally a faster and higher scoring game than 11-man. The pregame work helped in a wild 46-42 Bulldog victory over rival Downs-Lakeside that featured 646 total yards, eight turnovers, seven lead changes and three ties.

"I told them the most important play is the next play," Riner said. "No matter what happens, you got to keep playing, play in and play out, do your job, good or bad and move on. They did a good job of that. We would screw something up and the next play, we would come back and have a good play. I was pleased with the way we came together, found a way to win when we didn't play all that well."

The Bulldogs fumbled on four consecutive plays in the second quarter, lost senior fullback and 2009 leading rusher Justin Pruter to a mild concussion and trailed 26-12 with 6:28 left in the first half. Still, the Bulldogs regrouped, rolled off 18 straight unanswered points and eventually defeated Lakeside, located just 12 miles away. The Knights had a chance to win in last minute, but their fourth-and-16 pass from Osborne's 27-yard line with 50 seconds left was incomplete.

"It was a very big deal," Osborne senior running back Damon Schurr said. "Some of the guys were calling it like our Super Bowl basically. That was a very, very big game."

With the score tied at 12 in the second quarter, Osborne committed the first of four straight fumbles. Pruter had the third miscue before he exited the game and is expected to miss a week. Schurr said a past Osborne team could have crumbled because of the adversity. On Friday, though, Osborne rebounded after Lakeside delivered three unanswered scores off the miscues.

"Got to stick together," senior fullback/linebacker Jakob Demars said. "Can't dog on each other. If you dog on each other, then the whole team (falls apart). I think we are a lot closer and I think we are playing a lot better together than we have been before."

"All of the stuff we do as a team, it's just keep your head up," Schurr said. "Go onto the next play, just forget about it."

Schurr, an all-state sprinter, battled a hamstring injury for the last week and a half. After Pruter was hurt, he had to play both ways. Riner limited Schurr's touches to keep the speedster fresh. Schurr finished with nine carries for a game-high 91 yards and four TDs.

All four runs came off the same play, a handoff up the middle where he bounced outside. The second TD, from 26 yards out, cut Lakeside's lead to 26-18. Demars, who replaced Pruter in the backfield, tacked on another score with 2:30 remaining in the first half that brought the gap to two points.

"If (Schurr) gets out in the open and if you miss him, he is going to score," Lakeside coach Curt Christians said. "He is one of the fastest kids in the state and we don't have anybody that can compete with him. He is a good one."

The teams exchanged scores in the third and fourth quarter before Osborne took a 46-42 lead when junior quarterback Ethan Slothower scored from 51 yards out with eight minutes left. With 3:09 remaining, Osborne had a chance to run out the clock, but elected to punt from midfield on fourth-and-3.

"I just felt like if your defense is not going to step up when you need them to, you are not going to win anyway," Riner said.

Lakeside started at its own 30 and moved inside Bulldog territory.

However, it twice missed senior wideout Connor Shoemaker, had a six-yard loss on a screen pass and was incomplete on fourth down as Osborne sealed the victory.

"They came together as a football team in the second half and found a way to win," Riner said.

"That's the thing I am proud of."