In his first three years at Paris, head coach Cody Carney’s team didn’t have a kickoff return touchdown.

The Coyotes had three on Friday night in a 64-42 win at Northwest (Hughesville), which was the program’s first win against the Mustangs. Logan Mitchell began the game with a kickoff return touchdown and Kristian Harvey and Case Morgan returned the other kicks.

Head coach Cody Carney said Paris started the game well with that Mitchell return and then a touchdown following a forced fumble by Mitchell to take a two-possession lead. Carney said the game turned into a “slugfest” then, so having special teams come up big made a difference.

“One of our assistant coaches kept saying we were going to have one this year,” Carney said. “Here we are in the first game and we have three. They were very huge moments in the game.”

Paris took another two-possession lead, 34-20, with about three minutes left before halftime and maintained that margin with a goal line stand.

“They got down inside the 5,” Carney said. “Our guys kept them scoring right before halftime.”

Carney said Northwest stopped kicking the ball to Mitchell, so Harvey — who tied Spencer Minks for the defensive lead of 10 tackles — and Morgan did well backing him up as the backup returners. He said Northwest tied the game in the second half, but then Paris returned two more kickoffs for touchdowns.

“We then had some big defensive stops, and we were able to capitalize and get a couple quick touchdowns,” Carney said. “We ended up pulling ahead by three touchdowns.”

Paris waits until 11 a.m. Saturday to play Greenfield (1-0) in Lincoln to play at a halfway point.

“I know they have a couple of pretty good athletes who are pretty fast,” Carney said. “In 8-man, if you’ve got a couple guys who are fast and can get loose, you can be dangerous.”