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Wootton senior quarterback Mike Mooney hesitated for just a second; he brought his arm forward, but didn't let go of the ball.

Then he pulled his arm back again and quickly launched a 45-yard pass to senior receiver Stephane N'goumou in the right corner of the end zone to give the Patriots football team a 7-0 lead in the second quarter of Friday's 34-7 win at Whitman. And they never looked back.

Friday marked the second consecutive victory for Wootton (2-1) over Whitman (1-2). Last year's 24-13 win was its first over the Vikings in at least a decade.

"Last year gave us a lot of confidence," Mooney said. "This year we wanted to come out and we didn't want it to be close; we didn't want people to say it was lucky or bad officiating. We just wanted to come out and play a great game. And we did."

Wootton's notorious passing attack, led by Mooney (23 of 38, 309 yards and three touchdowns), was on key against Whitman. But its running game also did some damage, as well.

Two of the Patriots' five touchdowns were on the ground. Senior running back Andrew Rosenblatt rushed for 57 yards and a touchdown on 11 carries and junior Stephen Chen went 3-66 with a fourth-quarter touchdown.

"People say, ‘Oh, Wootton only throws because they can't run,'" Rosenblatt said. "But we showed that we can run. We have an advanced offense. Usually a team will just run on the first and second downs and on the third down they'll try to pass. We mix it up well."

After a tightly contested, scoreless first quarter, Mooney's 45-yard pass to N'goumou ignited the Patriots' offense. Rosenblatt then scored on a 17-yard run to give Wootton a 14-0 lead with 6 minutes left in the first half.

Wootton took a 21-0 lead on Mooney's 18-yard pass to N'goumou with less than a minute remaining in the half. Mooney's four-yard pass to senior Matt Scherer 8 minutes into the second half gave Wootton a 27-0 lead. And Chen's 8-yard run with six minutes remaining in the contest put Wootton ahead 34-0.

Whitman senior Anthony Young-Wiseman's 58-yard pass to junior Craig Fraser with 4 minutes left on the clock prevented the shutout. Young-Wiseman completed 4 of 15 passes for 108 yards and rushed for 78 yards on 16 carries.

"Wootton did a very good job," Whitman coach Jim Kuhn said. "In the first quarter, when we were able to stay on our offensive game plan, I thought we moved the ball well. But we blinked first. They made that big-time play and it was a slippery slope for us from there. But it happens."