YORK — Through 35 years and 309 games on the sidelines, Kennebunk head coach Joe Rafferty is almost guaranteed to have witnessed just about everything there is to see on a football field.

But it’s unlikely that’s he seen his team play too many better games against a quality than he did Friday, when the Rams rode the momentum from a Nicco DeLorenzo 89-yard touchdown – the first of his four – return on the opening kick of the game to a 38-14 victory over York in wet and sloppy conditions at York High School.

Rafferty joins elite company with the win, his 150th as the head coach at Kennebunk, although he was more pleased with the numbers two and zero, now his team’s record on the season.

“It’s nice and I love it, but the week to week thing is just what you do,” Rafferty said. “Some day it might mean something, but to be very honest with you I’m just happy to be going home 2-0.”

The milestone wasn’t lost on Rafferty’s players, however, as they treated him to a bucket of water over the head after the final whistle.

“I’m so glad I can be a part of his 150th,” said DeLorenzo, who led the Rams with 15 carries for 94 yards. “He’s a great coach and he’s been around a while, and he deserves every one of them.”

The game had been billed as an early season showdown between two of the favorites in Western Class B, made even bigger for York (0-2) after a surprising loss to Westbrook in last week’s season opener, but DeLorenzo helped Kennebunk take things by the scruff of the neck early.

After fielding the opening kick near the right sideline, the senior started down the field and didn’t have to change direction once as he hugged the boundary the rest of the way protected by a wall of blockers.

“I saw open grass and my blockers making great blocks,” DeLorenzo said. “I didn’t have to take on step out of line to get around the defense. It was perfect.”

With most of the first half played in a downpour, Rafferty said going up by seven just 14 seconds in was a tone setter.

“That was huge,” he said. “A big game, teams were pumped all week to do this and do that, and then to come out here and execute that very first opportunity. It was just great.”

York fumbled on the second play of its first possession to set the Rams up at the Wildcats 31 – the first of seven times the Rams would start a drive in opposition territory -leading to a 27-yard Jake Lary field goal to put the Rams up 10-0 three minutes in.

“Field position was just huge,” Rafferty said. “It just puts them in a bind a little bit and it puts them in a position where we know we have four chances instead of three.”

The teams then traded turnovers and punts, with Kennebunk getting the ball on the York 45 eight seconds into the second quarter.

Two penalties set the Rams back 10 yards, creating a third and 16, but Nick Emmons then found Larson Coppinger streaking down the sideline for a gain of 41. Three plays later DeLorenzo went over from a yard out, and Coppinger rushed in the two-point conversion to put Kennebunk up 18-0.

“The coverage was pretty tight but Nick just put in a perfect ball,” Coppinger said of his long reception. “It was a pivotal play that we really just executed well.”

Minutes later DeLorenzo was off to the races again, taking a handoff, breaking the tackle of York’s Jordan Pidgeon at the line of scrimmage and outrunning the secondary to a 57-yard score as the Rams took a commanding 24-0 lead with 6:48 left in the second.

In total the Rams outgained the Wildcats 151 to 25 in the first 24 minutes, largely thanks to the dominance at the line of scrimmage on both sides of the ball.

“Kids played great up front,” Rafferty said. “Dave Jackson, Richie Platt, Shane Normandeau, Jake Boothby, Ben Bath – those guys really played hard. We thought they would just try to come right at us and they did, and our guys responded pretty well.”

York was able to put a drive together to open the second half, capping a 12 play, 70-yard drive on Sean Kelly’s four-yard run to get back to within 24-6.

But after the teams traded three and outs, the Rams took back a four-touchdown cushion when Tyler Elkington’s 27 yard scamper set up DeLorenzo’s fourth touchdown from 11 yards out to make it 32-6 with 1:45 left in the third.

Elkington (three carries, 80 yards) then put the icing on the cake with a 49-yard score off a pitch from Emmons early in the fourth before a late Wildcats TD made it a 38-14 final.

In total Kennebunk compiled 274 yards of offense to York’s 209, with the Rams’ first-string outgaining the Wildcats’ first teamers 261 to 113 before the junior varsity teams played out the last half of the fourth quarter.

“Defense stepped up,” DeLorenzo said. “It was a big thing because they have a lot of threats on offense. They can pound the ball or air it out, so defensively it was huge this week.”

— Staff Writer Cameron Dunbar can be contacted at 282-1535, ext. 323.