It was always going to be a process for the Warwick Vets football team this season, and the Hurricanes were reminded Friday that it won’t always be smooth.

After taking some steps in the right direction in a non-league loss to Chariho, the Hurricanes were knocked back the other way in their league opener Friday night. Division II contender Rogers came to town and racked up 335 yards of offense, scored touchdowns on its first four possession and rolled past Vets 34-0.

“We’re improving in certain areas, but it’s just going to be a slow, uphill battle this year,” said Vets coach Bryan Nappa. “We’ve got a very, very young team. These guys played behind 22 seniors last year. Even our upperclassmen are inexperienced. Every week, we’re getting a little bit better and hopefully next week, we can put together a good game.”

The ’Canes had won their league opener each of the previous two years, but this is a new team and Rogers was a new opponent. The Vikings, who were D-II semifinalists last year, didn’t allow a Vets first down until the second quarter and were already ahead 20-0 by then. Five different players rushed for more than 40 yards, with the team averaging nearly nine yards per attempt.

Vets was coming off a 27-14 loss to Chariho in a game that could have been closer if not for two fumble return touchdowns by the Chargers. Vets threw for more than 200 yards.

Against Rogers, they finished with just 58 total yards.

“They have athletes across the board,” Nappa said. “They’re tough, well-coached, physical. We had to play a good game tonight and unfortunately, we didn’t.”

The ’Canes went three-and-out on their first two possessions and Rogers marched for touchdowns both times. The Vets defense held tougher than the end result of those drives would indicate, but the Vikings converted three fourth downs on their way to the end zone. On the first drive, Issac Garcia rushed for 4 yards on a fourth-and-1, setting up a Marquise Scott 5-yard touchdown one play later. On the second drive, Garcia converted a fourth-and-3, and Scott hit the end zone from 14 yards out on a fourth-and-5. Rogers also recovered three of its own fumbles on the drive.

“We’ve got to get more physical,” Nappa said. “Tackling was poor tonight. Their feet never stopped moving and ours did.”

Vets didn’t even get the chance at a three-and-out on its next series, with Garcia intercepting a Nick Beaufort pass on second down. He returned it to the Vets 8-yard line, setting up a Luke Browner 2-yard touchdown run two plays later. Quraan Bostic’s extra point made it 20-0.

The ’Canes finally made some headway on their next drive, with Beaufort and Mickenzey Pacheco picking up consistent yardage on zone read plays. But after getting as far as the Rogers 27-yard line, Vets stalled. A third down pass went for negative yardage and Beaufort was sacked by Kieve Nance and Riley Bolan on fourth down.

That was one of two sacks on the night for the Vikings. Beaufort, after a big day against Chariho, completed just two of nine passes for negative-one yard.

“We tried to play our better corner on [Jacob Isaac], and we shaded our safety to him a little bit,” said Rogers head coach Frank Newsome. “But the main thing was we had to get to the quarterback. He’s a good ball player. He can throw the ball. We felt like if we didn’t get any pressure in his face and he got comfortable, they were going to complete passes. Pressure was the key.”

The Vikings found the end zone again after the stalled Vets drive. Bostic hit Asi Mellekas for a 36-yard catch-and-run that put the ball deep in Vets territory. Browner bowled into the end zone from 6 yards out and the Bostic extra point made it 27-0 with 2:27 left before halftime.

“We felt like last week, we played more perimeter football than we’re used to and we’re not that type of team,” Newsome said. “We’ve got some speed, but we’re still a downhill running team. We got back to basics – getting on your blocks, sustaining your blocks, kids hitting the right hole. I thought the kids did a nice job with that.”

Rogers took the 27-0 lead into halftime. The ’Canes got their first defensive stop of the night on Rogers’ first possession of the second half but saw another drive sputter in Vikings territory. After an 8-yard run by Beaufort set up a fourth-and-2, Matt Kelly was stopped short of the first-down marker.

The Vikings then took off again, with Jhamal Gonsalves and Scott breaking off consecutive 38-yard runs. Gonsalves scored from 7 yards out on the next play and the extra point made it 34-0.

Vets responded with another march into Rogers territory, highlighted by a third-down conversion from Mike Isles and a fourth-down run by Beaufort. But a sack by Miguel Collazo put Vets into fourth-and-14, and Isles was hit for a 6-yard loss on the next play.

The Vikings took over and ran out the clock from there.

“They were well-prepared,” Nappa said. “They did a good job scouting because they took away a lot of the things we did well last week. We were able to do a few things right and then they closed it down. We didn’t capitalize on some of the opportunities we had. They took the passes that we wanted away and our line protection wasn’t very good tonight. They won the battles up front.”

Beaufort led Vets with 53 yards rushing, and his ability to get up-field on the read option was a positive sign.

But it just wasn’t enough.

“Zone read was working pretty well,” Nappa said. “Nick is good at reading what the defenses is doing. We manipulated their front a little bit with the set, they were over-shifting. Once we got the ball moving, a couple missed blocks and we went backwards. Instead of pushing through a mistake, we let it defeat us.”

Scott led the Vikings with 83 yards and two touchdowns on just six carries. Bostic added 54 yards rushing and Gonsalves had 45.

“We’ve got to clean up our assignments,” Nappa said. “If we can’t tackle next week, Central is going to do the same thing. We’ve just got to put this behind us.”

Vets will host Central on Friday at 7 p.m. The Knights lost 27-20 to Coventry in their league opener. Rogers has a non-league game Friday against Division III Middletown.