George Washington has adopted the motto "We Can Make It Happen'' for the 2011 season.

It's plastered on the video scoreboard at Steve Edwards Sr. Field and adorns the schedule posters stuck all over the Patriots' home base. It's also blasted over the public address system (from the Chicago song "Dialogue Part 2'') every time GW charges onto the field.

Indeed, the Patriots made it happen in Thursday night's season opener.

All-stater Ryan Switzer flashed his all-around skills with 356 yards rushing and receiving and scored five touchdowns as George Washington burst out of the gates with a 61-0 victory over South Charleston in South Hills.

Switzer carried 16 times for 277 yards and four TDs and caught a 79-yard scoring bomb from first-year starter Trevor Bell in the final minute of the first half.

"I tried to tell everybody about us,'' Switzer said, "but don't get me wrong. We've got a lot of things to improve on. But it shows you what can happen when you do push yourself hard in practice, when you do run those extra sprints. Our guys came out fired up.''

The game was supposed to be a early season showdown of Class AAA state powers, but the Patriots would have none of that.

Fullback Dustin Crouser added 78 yards and three more touchdowns for GW on just five carries. The Patriots rolled up 373 yards on the ground and 475 total.

Bell attempted only four passes, but completed three for 102 yards and also ran twice for 12 yards.

GW burst into a 42-0 halftime lead on a variety of big plays.

Switzer had a TD run of 31 yards and a 79-yard scoring reception with 23 seconds left before the break. Crouser's TDs came on carries of 37, 1 and 11 yards.

Crouser's first score came after Switzer had apparently broken off a 70-yard touchdown run on GW's first offensive snap. The play was flagged at the SC 22, however, for unsportsmanlike conduct on the Patriots, and Crouser scored two plays later.

Malik Hampton also hit the end zone on a 9-yard run off a reverse.

"You never go in thinking you're going to score 61 points,'' said GW coach Steve Edwards Jr., "but when you do, it's a big plus. The key to the game, I thought, was we controlled the offensive and defensive fronts, controlled the line of scrimmage. We were more physical than they were, and that surprised me. We were consistently being more physical.

"When you've got talented guys like Switzer and Crouser and Hampton, and you can win up front, those guys get the chance to be athletic and do what they do, and that's scoring points.''

Meanwhile, the Black Eagles, who won consecutive Class AAA state titles in 2008-09 and reached the playoff semifinals last year, managed just 27 net yards on 34 first-half plays as they fell far behind.

SC alternated quarterbacks Drew Orcutt-Rosen and Jon Alexander with little success. In the first half, Orcutt-Rosen hit on just 2-of-13 passes for 18 yards.

The Black Eagles partly paved their own demise with unforced mistakes, including five bad shotgun snaps to the quarterback and three punts that went minus-1, 6 and 14 yards, setting up GW with good field position.

"It is what it is,'' said SC coach John Messinger. "Our youth really showed. We had two quarterbacks who had never taken a varsity rep, five, six receivers deep who had never taken a rep. Now that's no excuse, but that was a heck of a football team that beat us tonight. They're going to win a lot of games.

"We haven't had one like that in a long time, but we've got nine more and we're going to be all right.''

The Black Eagles finished with just 117 net yards, 83 coming on 39 carries. Orcutt-Rosen and Alexander combined to complete 7-of-22 passes for 34 yards.

SC's best scoring chance came with just over two minutes left when it relied on Ken Haynes (13 carries, 74 yards) to get a first-and-goal at the GW 5. However, the Patriots' reserves stonewalled Haynes on carries from the 2 and 1 on third and fourth downs, respectively, keeping the Black Eagles off the board.

SC went without one of its top players, running back-linebacker Trevond Reese, who sat out a one-game suspension carried over from last season and the fight following the Black Eagles' quarterfinal playoff game.

GW takes its show on the road next Friday to Ashland, Ky., to face Paul Blazer. SC visits Riverside next Friday.

Reach Rick Ryan at 304-348-5175 or rickr...@wvgazette.com.