Detroit Loyola senior quarterback Montel Cooks and the Bulldog offense had a near perfect first half at Willow Run High School on Thursday night and cruised to a 49-12 win.

Loyola ended five of its six first half drives in the end zone -- the other stalled after a fumble on the Willow Run 2-yard line -- to take a 35-6 halftime lead.

“They're an upper-echelon team and we knew that when we scheduled them," Willow Run coach Rufus Pipkins said. "We’re not a well-conditioned team yet and we’re a couple practices behind where we’d like to be. This game will make us a better team."

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Loyola’s first drive of the third quarter acted as Cooks’ curtain call. On third-and-5 from the Loyola 35, Cooks rolled left hit Jaylin Gaddie in stride for a 65-yard touchdown pass, giving the Bulldogs a 42-6 lead and mercifully starting a running clock.

The long touchdown pass would be Cooks’ last snap of the night. His final line was an efficient 5-of-7 passing for 183 yards and four touchdowns. He also ran four times for 29 yards and another score.

The lone fault in Cooks’ performance was his other 5-of-7 performance on point-after conversions. Yes, he kicks too.

“Obviously, he’s a pretty special athlete,” Pipkins said.

Cooks deflected that type of praise after the game, saying “it starts with the line, all credit goes to them and my receivers.”

While the game ended in a running clock rout, it started at a competitive tick. Two drives composed almost the entirety of the first quarter. Willow Run (0-2) used the games’ opening possession to march 85 yards before stalling at the Loyola 15-yard line. Two mishandled snaps ended the drive at the 35.

Loyola (1-1) used the next six minutes to methodically drive 65 yards, scoring on a 5-yard Cooks keeper with 58 seconds left in the quarter.

The floodgates opened in the second quarter. Willow Run started a three-and-out and a muffed punt. Loyola took over on the Flyers' 21 and wasted little time. On the first play, Cooks hit Jaylin Gaddie on a post pattern for a touchdown.

While the Flyers struggled to move the ball past the 50, the Bulldogs needed only 11 offensive plays in the quarter to score 28 points.

Willow Run scored its lone offensive touchdown of the night with 1:42 left in the second quarter, a 5-yard Kareem Lovelace end zone fade to Deshawn Gohl that was set up by a 46-yard NyShaun Marks run on a fake punt. Marks ran for 122 yards on eight carries.

Whatever momentum gained by Wilow Run was quickly taken away when a late hit penalty on the kickoff gave Loyola the ball on their 40. Cooks needed only one snap to find Paul Bly for a 60-yard touchdown pass and give the Bulldogs a 35-6 advantage at half.

Willow Run quarterback Kareem Lovelace finished the night 9-of-14 passing for 50 yards and two interceptions.

Bob Gross covers sports for AnnArbor.com. He can be reached at bobmgross@gmail.com. Follow him on Twitter @bobgross.