The No. 1 ranked University of Wisconsin-Whitewater football team began the 2015 season Saturday with a complete performance, defeating host Belhaven 62-6 at H.T. Newell Field in Jackson, Miss.
 
The victory was the first for head coach Kevin Bullis, who took the reins of the program in January after serving as a defensive assistant at UW-Whitewater for the last seven seasons.
 
The Warhawks (1-0 overall) also extended their college football-best win streak to 33 games.
 
UW-Whitewater rushed for 302 yards on offense, while the defense allowed just 187 total yards and forced three turnovers against the "Air Raid" attack of the Blazers (0-2).
 
Senior running back Jordan Ratliffe (Milwaukee/Milwaukee Vincent) led a balanced rushing attack with 10 carries for 103 yards and two touchdowns. It was his 10th career 100-yard rushing game.
 
Senior Dennis Moore (Elgin, IL/Elgin) added 12 carries for 78 yards and a score, and senior Nick Patterson (Sussex/Hamilton) posted eight carries for 66 yards and two touchdowns.
 
Making his debut as a starter, junior quarterback Chris Nelson (Twin Lakes/Wilmot Union) finished 6-of-9 passing for 58 yards and a touchdown.
 
Junior linebacker Jordan Strasburg (Fort Atkinson/Fort Atkinson) led the defense with seven tackles. Sixteen other players finished with two tackles or more, including junior defensive lineman John Flood (Spring Grove, IL/Richmond-Burton Community), who finished with two sacks.
 
Junior defensive back Vince Mason (Green Bay, Wis./Green Bay Southwest) and sophomore defensive back JD Marconi (Wheaton, Ill./Wheaton North) each tallied an interception. Senior defensive lineman Nick Froland (Green Bay/Notre Dame Academy) forced a fumble.
 
The Warhawks found the end zone three times in the first quarter, taking advantage of a Belhaven turnover and a defensive stop deep in Blazers territory.
 
After forcing a three-and-out, UW-Whitewater drove 66 yards in eight plays as Nelson started the scoring with a 1-yard sneak on third and goal to make it 7-0 with 9:18 on the clock.
 
Mason intercepted Clayton Webb and returned it 31 yards to the Belhaven 19-yard line. Patterson scored from one yard out to double the lead at 14-0 with 6:26 remaining.
 
The Warhawks stopped the Blazers on fourth down, and needed just 15 yards for their third touchdown of the quarter, a 1-yard run by Ratliffe with 3:34 left.
 
Ratliffe scampered in from 34 yards out at the 12:05 mark of the second quarter to give UW-Whitewater a 28-0 advantage.
 
After three straight punts, Patterson took a handoff and ran 48 yards to the end zone, making it a five-touchdown lead with 3:53 left in the half.
 
The Warhawks got the ball back with just under two minutes left in the quarter, and Moore ran for a 21-yard score on the first play of the drive to make it 42-0 with 1:27 remaining.
 
Junior tight end Brent Campbell (Rockford, IL/Winnebago) completed a 53-yard drive to start the second half with a two-yard touchdown reception from Nelson just under five minutes into the period.
 
Freshman Ben Franzen (Hampshire, Ill./Hampshire) kicked his first career field goal, a 28-yarder, at the 1:28 mark of the third to make it 52-6. Freshman running back Tyler Glass (Lancaster, Wis./Lancaster) added a six-yard touchdown off a Belhaven fumble, and Franzen knocked through a 26-yard field goal in the fourth to account for the final margin.
 
UW-Whitewater opens the home portion of its 2015 schedule next Saturday, Sept. 19, against Finlandia (Mich.). Kickoff is slated for 1 p.m. on Hall of Fame Day at Perkins Stadium.