When running back Ghaali Muhammad starts sprinting down the sideline, the end zone normally is a foregone conclusion.

Not anymore. Not against the big boys of Blue Springs.

The Wildcats gave Central an unfriendly welcome to the Suburban League’s Big 7 Conference at Noyes Field on Friday and cruised to a sloppy 32-3 win.

“When I hit that edge, I saw the end zone and thought I should have scored on it,” Muhammad said. “I just couldn’t get there.”

His 44-yard burst into the red zone during the second quarter was one of the Indians’ handful of offensive highlights. But much like the rest of the evening, miscues piled up and prevented Central (1-1, 0-1 Suburban Big 7) from gaining any sort of toehold.

With the chance to make it a one-possession game, the Indians stalled inside the 10-yard line, came away empty-handed and never got inside the Wildcats’ 20-yard line the rest of the evening.

“Offensively, we did not block very well,” Central coach Tony Dudik said. “And I’m going to give them a lot of credit to their defense. It created some problems for us, and we didn’t handle it very well.”

Blue Springs (2-0, 1-0 Suburban Big 7) did the same on the other side of the ball.

Sophomore running back Darrian Miller used a punishing running style to pile up 229 yards on 23 carries — including two trips into the end zone. It didn’t end there, however, as Jared Lanpher tossed a pair of touchdowns in a balanced Wildcat attack.

Receiver Keeston Terry also impressed with a handful of acrobatic catches that netted him 108 yards and a touchdown.

The final tally likely would have been much greater without Blue Springs’ obscene penalty statistics, which totaled 140 yards on 17 infractions.

“You should always leave happy with a win,” Blue Springs coach Kelly Donohoe said. “But any time you have that many yellow hankies lying around, you leave with a bad taste in your mouth.”

Central (1-1, 0-1) wasn’t immune to the referees’ ire, either, racking up 14 penalties, but the Indians had larger issues to deal with.

A week after gouging Winnetonka for six combined touchdowns, Muhammad and his brother — Malkaam — didn’t reach the end zone and rolled up only 110 yards on 25 carries between them. A sputtering passing game didn’t help matters, as two quarterbacks combined for a 25 percent completion rate and 15 yards.

A slippery field also hampered Central’s sibling-based running attack and played a role in three fumbles, which the Indians recovered.

But Dudik knows the slate won’t get any easier and plans to clean up the sloppy mistakes his team displayed throughout the night.

“I think it was a great teacher tonight, but when you play those types of teams, you can not have those types of breakdowns,” Dudik said. “We will do a better job next week. I can promise you that.

“I can promise you that.”