LOCUST GROVE — Sequoyah’s crushing defeat against Victory Christian last week obviously didn’t have any lingering effects on Friday night.

Class 3A No. 8 Sequoyah racked up 573 yards of total offense and scored 51 straight points to crush Locust Grove, 58-13, at Leonard Yarborough Stadium in District 3A-7 play.

“We wanted to see how our team reacted,” Sequoyah coach Brent Scott said, referring to the 35-34 loss to Victory Christian in non-district play. “It was a pretty devastating loss, but we had to put it behind us for our first district game. It was a game we had to win, and our team responded well.”

Did they ever.

The Indians (3-1, 1-0 District 3A-7) had one 100-yard rusher and two 100-yard receivers. Oh, and a quarterback who tossed for 253 yards.

Before anyone had a chance to settle in, Sequoyah had already scored a touchdown in the first quarter. Running back Kyle Helsley ran in from three yards out to put Sequoyah up 7-0.

Locust Grove would respond with Colton Witt’s 3-yard TD run, but the Pirates failed on the two-point conversion and trailed 7-6.

From that point on, it was all Sequoyah.

Niko Hammer, at the 5:23 mark in the first quarter, scored on a 2-yard run to kick-start the rout.

The Indians then scored three touchdowns through the air to close out the first quarter. Brayden Scott found Ryan Helsley (68-yard pass), Hammer (28-yarder) and Nick Kingfisher (24-yarder) for scoring passes.

The Indians would take a 34-6 into the second quarter, where Karter Woodruff added a 3-yard scoring run for Sequoyah. And right before halftime, Hammer caught a 23-yard TD strike from Scott to put the Indians up 48-6 at intermission.

Sequoyah’s only scores in the second half came on Kyle Helsley’s 47-yard run and Forrest Cully’s 32-yard field goal.

Leading Sequoyah in the rushing department was Woodruff, who piled up 119 yards on 10 carries. Kyle Helsley wasn’t too far behind with 82 yards on 12 rushes.

Scott passed for 253 yards by completing 10 of 24 pass attempts. He connected with Hammer five times for 106 yards, while Ryan Helsley hauled in three passes for 104 yards.

“We don’t go into the game trying to be balanced,” Brent Scott said of his club spreading the ball around on offense. “We just go with what’s working. We have some good athletes and we’re able to spread the ball around a little bit.”

Defensively, Sequoyah held Locust Grove (3-1, 0-1) to 166 total yards on offense. The Pirates’ only solution on offense was Cameron McIntire, who had five catches for 141 yards.

“We did a great job of making adjustments,” Brent Scott said. “Greydon Elrod does so much for us. We just got better as the game went on.”

Scott added that it was imperative for the Indians to claim their first district contest this season.

“You have to get things started the right way,” he said. “Now, we take a deep breath and relax for about an hour.”

Next on the docket for Sequoyah is a Cherokee County clash with Keys at Cougar Stadium in Park Hill.

“It’s time to move on to Keys and prepare to go against Gary Willis, who always seems to be one step ahead of us,” Brent Scott said. “We have a lot of guys that have never played Keys, so it should be one heck of an event Friday night.”