And with the Bumblebees’ offense, any extra opportunity might be one too many.

Academy took advantage of four Jarrell turnovers to remain undefeated with a 20-7 win Friday night in the District 25-2A opener for both teams.

“This was a game of turnovers,” Academy coach Royce McAdams said. “A lot of times that happens when you get two good ballclubs together, going 100 percent and hitting hard. We were just able to take advantage of theirs early.”

The troubles started on the first play from scrimmage for the Cougars (2-3, 0-1 in 25-2A).

Jarrell quarterback Dwight Culp’s first pass was picked off by Cody Sultenfuss and returned 30 yards to set up the Bees’ offense.

Three plays later, Sultenfuss took a pass from quarterback Chase Gommert 25 yards for a touchdown to put the Bees (5-0, 1-0) up 7-0 just 90 seconds into the game.

“We knew if we could score there, we could put this one away quick,” said receiver Andrew Sodek, who finished with a team-high 85 yards on six catches.

Academy did exactly that in the second quarter.

The Bees turned a mishandled flea-flicker and a turnover on downs into more easy points.

Gommert threw touchdown passes to receiver Noah Hamill and tight end Chase Reeders to give the Bees a 20-0 lead at halftime.

“That absolutely killed us,” Jarrell coach Ricky Taylor said. “We stopped about every offensive drive we had ourselves.”

The Bees have had little trouble forcing turnovers this season. Entering the night, Academy had forced 14 turnovers in its four wins.

And each time Academy created another one in the first half Friday night, it kept the momentum on its side.

“(Turnovers) definitely kept the momentum on our side,” Sultenfuss said. “Every time it looked like we were starting to get down, we’d make a big play and get everybody pumped up again.”

With its running game all but shut down, Academy had no problem going to the air.

The Cougars were successful in taking the deep pass away from Gommert. But that left the middle open, allowing the Bees to move down the field with short passes.

And with Gommert having as much time as he needed in the pocket, finding an open receiver wasn’t that tough.

“The guys just got open. It’s easier to make a throw when they’re that open,” Gommert said.

Gommert had a nearly flawless first half, completing 10 of 15 passes for 168 yards and three touchdowns. He finished with 247 yards, his second-highest passing total of the season.

Things didn’t come that easy for Academy’s offense in the second half.

The Bees were content to sit on their lead and control the clock in the second half, but had trouble moving the ball.

Jarrell, though, couldn’t take advantage. The Cougars committed two more turnovers - a fumble and another interception.

Jarrell finally got on the board early in the fourth quarter on a 1-yard sneak by quarterback Chris Trevino.

That score was all the Cougars could muster, despite having success running the ball. Jarrell finished with 165 rushing yards and averaged more than 4 yards per carry.

Jarrell junior Clint Vasquez led all rushers with 95 yards on 16 carries, and teammate Aaron Mueller had 69 yards on eight carries.

With their fifth straight win, the Bees are 5-0 for the first time since 2001. But more importantly, players said, this win puts them on the right track toward a district title.

“This is just one more step toward our success,” Gommert said.