For Chanhassen coach Mike Bailey, the key to the first game of the season is getting his team to believe.

“I tell the guys to believe, but the pressure comes if you don’t score in those first few series,” Bailey said. “If you get one of those good opening moments, it gets everyone to believe.”

The Storm got their moment mere seconds into Thursday’s opener, recovering an Armstrong fumble on the opening kick -- and never looked back. The Storm defeated the Falcons 35-13 at Chanhassen High School.

After junior linebacker Cullen Adams recovered the fumble, Chanhassen’s offense started rolling. Senior quarterback Jacob Miller and senior running back Matthew Boyum carried the Storm to the goal line with Miller finishing the job on a 1-yard run to put Chanhassen ahead 7-0.

“Special teams has always been a big part of our game,” Miller said. “That fumble changed the momentum. I feel really confident that we can score every time if we get the ball inside the opposing 20(-yard line).”

The Chanhassen (1-0) passing game struggled, with Miller passing 2 for 7 for just 18 yards in the opening half. But his footwork made the difference, carrying the ball for more than 100 yards on 15 carries before halftime. Miller finished with 181 rushing yards.

It’s hardly surprising Chanhassen focused on its ground game. Once a running back, Miller was forced to switch to quarterback after a teammate suffered an injury.

“We’re a team that likes to run with our quarterbacks a lot,” Bailey said. “A lot of these guys grew up either being able to throw and not run or run and not throw. We’ve decided we like our running backs that can throw and use them at quarterback.”

Leaning heavily on a running quarterback, however, can wear on an offense.

“We’re trying to run like that but we can’t have (Miller) running 30 times a game for 10 weeks,” Bailey said. “We had to start giving it to other guys.”

Enter Boyum and junior running back Rolando Alvarez. The tandem was a consistent thorn in the side of the Armstrong defense, combining for 36 carries and 173 yards. Boyum had three touchdowns from inside the 10-yard line.

The Storm offensive line did its job, creating large holes and outworking the Falcons (0-1).

“When they get into a rhythm like that, they’re tough to stop,” Armstrong coach Jack Negen said. “We needed to be more physical than them and we weren’t tonight.”

Armstrong boasts its own mobile quarterback in junior Jake Breitbach who scampered for 74 yards on their first series, capped by a 38-yard touchdown run. Breitbach was the only Falcon to reach the end zone.

Despite a leg-cramping scare in the fourth quarter, Miller walked off on his own. After the game, he said he was OK. The smiles on the faces of the Storm players and fans proved that any doubt following that injury scare was gone.

“I just believe in these guys so much,” Miller said. “I know we’re not the biggest group, but we’re physical and scrappy.”