All Gainesville coach Bruce Miller wanted was to have his team limit the mistakes.

He got his wish Friday when Gainesville (2-0) turned the ball over just once and racked up 414 total yards of offense in its 41-0 win over Franklin County (0-2) at City Park.

The one mistake came on the Red Elephants’ opening drive, as quarterback Blake Sims fumbled while scrambling on the first possession of the night.

The senior quarterback more than made up for that mistake, finishing the game 15-of-25 passing for 187 yards and scoring three rushing touchdowns.

"I just put that fumble behind me and kept playing," Sims said. "The only thing I thought about was holding it tight."

That was evident on Sims’ final touchdown run.

After telling Gainesville coach Bruce Miller to give him the ball and promising to score, Sims took the snap, ran right, spun around an oncoming tackler then juked his way to a 34-yard touchdown run.

"Everybody was doing their thing and I wanted to have a turn," Sims said. "But without the line and without everyone blocking, I wouldn’t have scored."

His coaches knew he would.

"I knew somehow he was gonna come out of it," Miller said. "It looked like they had him hemmed up, but he kept bouncing and bouncing, and then the guys upstairs in the press box said he’s gonna score."

While Sims was doing everything to get in the end zone, the Gainesville defense was doing everything it could to prevent Franklin County from doing so.

"I’m proud of the defense because shutouts mean you’re playing great defense," Miller said. "Even in the fourth quarter with some second string guys in, you could still see them hustling to the ball. It’s a tribute to coach (Jim) Pavao and the defensive players who take pride in getting a shutout."

Kevin Hall, Tim Rucker, Taylor Stowe and Thomas Sprague each recorded a sack and played an integral role in the defense holding Franklin County to just 131 yards of offense and forcing seven three-and-outs. Stowe also came up with a fumble recovery in the second quarter that set up Sims’ second touchdown.

Plays like that, and recording a second straight shutout to start the season is giving Gainesville’s offense much confidence.

"We have all the confidence in the world," said wide receiver Tai-ler Jones, who caught seven passes for 96 yards. "All we need to do is get in the end zone and we’ll win the game."

After a slow start, Gainesville found the end zone with 2:44 left in the first quarter when Sims raced around the edge to score from the 2.

Teryan Rucker, who rushed for his second straight 100-yard game, added to the lead with a 5-yard touchdown with 4:56 left in the second quarter.

"We weren’t clicking on all cylinders," Miller said of the first half. "In the second half, we started hitting on all cylinders."

The Red Elephants piled it on at the start of third when Tyson Smith broke free for a 34-yard score on Gainesville’s opening possession. Sims’ final touchdown came six minutes later.

Even Gainesville’s reserves got in on the scoring, just not in the usual manner. The Red Elephants’ final touchdown came when backup quarterback Stephen Mason fired a pass off the fingertips of Ryan Griffith and into the diving arms of Desmund Hamilton.

"We did this together as a team," Jones said. "Our unity is at the highest level."