For the first home football game of the season at Milan High School, the loudspeakers weren't working on the Milan side of the stadium and a bank of lights on the north side also failed to operate.

But when it came to playing football Friday night, there was absolutely nothing wrong with the Big Reds.

More Coverage on MLive.com: Boxscore

Milan racked up nearly 400 yards of offense and played stellar defense in the second half en route to a 21-0 victory over Riverview in its Huron League opener. Milan looked like a different team than the one that eked out a one-point victory over Ypsilanti last week.

The Big Reds (2-0, 1-0 Huron League) rushed for 230 yards and threw for 166 more, with most of those passing yards coming in big chunks, including a 48-yard, hook-and-ladder play on the first play of the game.

Senior DeAndre Mitchell rushed for 112 yards and two touchdowns on 10 carries in his 2010 backfield debut. Mitchell returned a kickoff for a touchdown and had an interception last week in defensive and special teams work.

The defense was equally impressive. It forced and recovered a fumble when the Pirates (1-1, 0-1) had first-and-goal on the 3-yard line. In the second half, Riverview gained just 39 yards before some garbage yards in the final 21 seconds of play.

"The defense is the big story. Terry Bigham is our new defensive coordinator and in his second game he gets a shutout," said Milan coach Steve Robb. "Obviously, we showed tremendous improvement between last week and this week. That's the name of the game: keep getting better."

The running game in particular was better, with senior Joe Dunn carrying 12 times for 55 yards and catching three balls from sophomore quarterback Jacob Hagemann for 78 yards. After stopping Riverview on the 3-yard line, Dunn capped a 12-play, 97-yard drive when he leaped over the pile to score on a 1-yard run and give Milan a 7-0 lead in the second quarter.

But Milan's running game was never more electric than when Mitchell touched the ball. The senior broke tackles and moved piles, sometimes on the same play. His first TD came on the first play after a Riverview punt early in the third quarter.

Mitchell got hit just past the line of scrimmage, carried the tacklers for several yards, and then broke free to complete the 42-yard score.

On the first play of the fourth quarter, Mitchell capped a 12-play drive when he burst through the line for a 38-yard score. He was barely touched on his way to the end zone.

"I think we might have to give him the ball a little more," Robb said.

On defense, Dunn and senior linebacker Jevon Freeman delivered the biggest hits. When Riverview drove to the 10-yard line in the second quarter, the pair delivered big hits on Pirates QB Matt Gibbons (Freeman a 5-yard sack and Dunn as Gibbons threw incomplete on fourth down) to thwart that scoring threat.

Late in the game, sophomore Brandon Yoho got in on the fun with a sack of Gibbons while Dunn recorded a sack on the next play.

"We remember what happened last year they got us in the second half and put up 28 (consecutive points in an upset victory)," Dunn said. "We had it marked on our calendar. We were ready to roll. It's a physical league and we need to be ready to play."

Dave Holzman can be reached at daveholz@comcast.net.