Staff photo / Brian Yauger Chalker's Colt Levensky carries the ball during the team's season-opening loss to the Maryland School for the Deaf.

SOUTHINGTON — When you’re one of few teams statewide that fields an eight-man football team, sometimes you have to get creative when scheduling.

Earlier in the year, the Maryland School for the Deaf reached out to Chalker looking to fill a hole in its schedule.

Chalker, also needing a game for its first full season of eight-man football, accepted.

The Orioles struck early and often in a 42-22 victory over the Wildcats on Saturday.

“Need a lot of improvements, a lot of areas that we thought we were good at, or maybe a little strong, and we lacked in that department,” Wildcats coach Justin Kren said. “So that’s something we have to correct.”

While a bit of an unconventional opponent, for Chalker, it was no different. It’s still football.

“Nothing’s different,” Kren said. “They play eight-man ball, just like we play eight-man ball. They just were the better team today.”

Maryland got things started on the scoreboard and the team seemed to have an answer each time Chalker cut back into their lead.

Most notably in the third quarter.

Sophomore Tegun Noble connected with junior Tanner Kelson on a heave that turned into a touchdown for the Wildcats.

But just 10 seconds of game time later, the Orioles responded, going nearly untouched on the ensuing kickoff return.

Any momentum Chalker got was swiftly undone.

Chalker has a mix of experience and youth, but it’s broken up by positions. The Wildcats’ skill guys are all inexperienced, but along the offensive line, Chalker has plenty of it.

“A lot of our starters are sophomores and juniors,” Kren said. “We’ve got four seniors, but they all play up front. A lot of our skill-based spots are underclassmen.”

The more reps those younger guys get, the better.

“We need to stay healthy for one,” Kren said. “We dropped like flies today. Lack of hydration. Had a lot of guys cramping. We had one knee injury, but other than that, I think, hydration is one of the big things, along with conditioning.”

With now just three games under their belts playing eight-man football, this program is still young in another way.

They’re still feeling out a new game, and going up against more experienced programs helps.

“You always look at what other guys are running,” Kren said. “What kind of formations are they running and if they’re trying to out-leverage you if they have something, that piques your interest. A lot of times when we came from 11-man to eight-man that’s all we did as coaches. We sat down in our offices and our garages and we watched eight-man film and picked up stuff. None of us knew anything about it until we played the two games last year.”

Chalker (0-1) plays Toledo Christian on Sept. 14.