The scoreboard showed a 31-9 defeat to rival Marshfield, but North Bend coach Rick Taylor found much to be happy with in his team’s first game Friday night.

“(The loss) was difficult for the kids, because it was the crosstown rivalry,” Taylor said, adding that if the team had lost to another quality Class 5A school, the players would have viewed the game as a positive thing.

North Bend has a chance to build on that Friday night, when the Bulldogs host Newport. Game time is 7 p.m. at Vic Adams Field.

Taylor was most pleased with his team’s defense against the Pirates.

“We were out of position on a couple of big plays, but overall, we were flying to the ball,” he said.

The Bulldogs also held their heads high and kept battling after a fumble on the team’s first offensive play led to a quick touchdown for Marshfield.

“That showed a lot of character,” he said.

North Bend committed several turnovers in the game, but Taylor said that was partly due to playing the first game in his offense.

“What I saw on both sides of the ball, the errors we made are fixable errors,” Taylor said.

“The things that are difficult to fix are lack of heart,” he said, referring to elements like substandard effort or players not wanting to hit the opposition. “The kids showed attitude, heart and desire.”

The Bulldogs suffered some from first-game jitters, he said.

“They were overly anxious,” Taylor said. “They were doing things they won’t do later in the season.”

Still, North Bend led 9-6 in the final moments of the third quarter, before a series of big plays helped Marshfield pull away.

While he was thrilled with his defense’s effort Friday, Taylor hopes to see a better production out of his offense this week.

“The offense obviously is behind the defense, and it will be because of what we do,” he said. “The option is not an easy offense to run.”

In Newport, the Bulldogs are meeting a team they have beaten three times in the past two seasons, including a 48-6 victory in the second round of the playoffs last fall.

But that was a veteran North Bend team, not one in its second game under a new head coach. And Newport got the season off to a strong start with a 20-0 win at Junction City last week.

“Their offense is different this year,” Taylor said. “They’re running more of a spread.”

Newport has a talented running back and an impressive quarterback, Mark Moore, who had a pair of touchdown passes last week.

Taylor said the Bulldogs are preparing some for the Cubs, but early in the year they are more concerned about  working on their own offense and defense.

“We are spending a lot of time on ourselves,” he said.