BUFFALO - Cameron Ellis ran for a whopping 233 yards and scored three touchdowns to lead the Gilbert Lions to a big opening week win against Buffalo - Putnam Friday night at Buffalo.

The Lions literally ran away with the game as they rushed for a team total 497 yards.

In addition to Ellis’s 233 yards, Josh Carter ran for 114 yards, Cody Houck for 70 yards with one touchdown, R. J. Cline garnered 48 yards, Ashton Cline 18 yards and Brandon Cline got 14 yards and one touchdown.

The Lion ‘s passing attack was also stellar as quarterback Ashton Cline was three for seven through the air for 51 yards passing and one touchdown pass.

Josh Johnson caught two passes for 27 yards and a touchdown. Cody Houck caught one pass for twenty -four yards.

The Lions got started early as they cruised to a 12 - 0 first quarter lead. Then in the second quarter, th Lions raised the score to 20 to 0 before going into halftime.

Gilbert exploded in the third quarter and moved out to a 34 to 0 score. The Lions defense got even stingier than it had been then and kept Buffalo at bay.

In the fourth quarter, Gilbert got another touchdown and went ahead 40 to 0 which would be the final score at the end of the game.

While most of the Gilbert fan faithful were overly impressed with the Lions offense, it was not the offense that impressed Gilbert Head Football Coach Gordon Carter the most.

“ I thought our defense played extremely well.” said Carter.

The stats most definitely paint an impressive picture of the Lion’s 2009 defense.

In addition to holding Buffalo to only 49 rushing yards, they also sacked the quarterback three times.

Defensively, Josh Carter had three sacks for a loss of 17 yards b y Buffalo and Wes Lester and Carter each had one fumble recovery.

Brandon's Cline led the Lions in tackles in the game with 9.

Gilbert returns to action next Friday night with their 2009 season home opener at Lions Stadium against the Westside Warriors. Game time is set for 7: