NORCROSS — Needing a momentum-turning play to secure a season-opening win against a historically tough opponent, Norcross got just that from one of its most trusted veterans.

Two-way star Drew Noelsaint’s 101-yard pick-six highlighted a 40-16 romp of visiting Mill Creek to begin the second year of Corey Richardson’s head football coaching career at Norcross.

His Blue Devils also topped Mill Creek last season.

“It was the game-changer that we needed,” Richardson said of Noelsaint’s interception. “But it was more than just that. We had a long drive on offense and with the weather the way it is, I just felt like defensively Mill Creek got tired. They’ve got a good team, Coach (Josh) Lovelady does a good job with them. But tonight was a great night for us.”

Making his career start under center, junior quarterback Luqman Baig rushed for two touchdowns — including an 86-yarder in the fourth — while adding two more through the air in a stellar debut.

“I’m proud of him,” Richardson said of Baig. “There’s probably nobody harder on himself than him. He’s the kind of kid that will watch film and go back to work and learn from his mistakes, but he just did a lot of really good things for his first start.

“I’m so proud of him. He’s going to continue to grow and just get better.”

Outside of a pair of Carter Jackson field goals and an Anderson Ragone rushing touchdown, not much went right for Mill Creek, which lost its season opener for the first time since 2018.

Norcross forced the game’s first turnover on the first drive of the second half, as Eric Pitts III’s hit on William Backus knocked the ball loose and it was recovered by Canon Huff.

Baig then hit Davis Marschke for a 31-yard pass to the Mill Creek 15. From there, Baig’s 10-yard run and his 3-yard touchdown pass to Marschke gave the Blue Devils a 20-13 lead with 8:24 remaining in the third.

Ragone answered on the next Mill Creek drive with a 44-yard pass to Josiah Davis, setting up Jackson’s 39-yard field goal.

On the ensuing drive, a Mill Creek late hit personal foul and a 16-yard Baig run pushed the ball to the Hawks’ 18. Tyler Ruffin then ran in the first touchdown of his varsity career, pushing the lead to 26-16 at the 1:44 mark. Norcross fumbled the extra-point attempt.

With Mill Creek threatening to score, Noelsaint picked off Ragone and took the ball from end zone to end zone as time expired in the third, extending the lead to 33-16 and deflating any air left in the Hawks’ balloon.

Jackson missed on a 49-yard field goal attempt on Mill Creek’s next drive.

On a picture-perfect opening drive of the season, Jayson Jones’ 15-yard rush and Connor Washington’s 10-yard scamper led to Baig’s 42-yard touchdown pass to a wide-open Jones. After an unsuccessful two-point conversion attempt, Norcross’ lead stood at 6-0 just over two minutes in.

Ragone hit Dominic Miller for a 25-yard pass on third down with a minute left in the first quarter. A 12-yard connection from Ragone to Backus set up the visitors on Norcross’ eight-yard line, but the Blue Devil defense stood tough, holding Mill Creek to Jackson’s 26-yard field goal.

An errant Norcross snap on a punt attempt sailed through the back of the end zone, cutting the lead to 6-5 with 8:48 left in the first half.

Mill Creek took advantage, as a 16-yard pass to Sebastian Ramos was followed with Ragone’s 1-yard rushing score and Nick Tuck’s two-point conversion to give the Hawks a 13-6 lead at the 4:30 mark of the second quarter.

The sloppy special teams play continued, this time for Mill Creek. As the Hawks lined up to punt, the snap was launched over the head of Jackson, who fell on the ball at his own 10-yard line. Two plays later, Baig ran in a touchdown from a yard out, knotting the score at 13 apiece with 27 seconds remaining.

After the second-half domination, which included several unsportsmanlike conduct penalties and a player ejected from both sides, Richardson could finally breathe a sigh of relief — even if the game had been virtually decided for a while.

“All the hard work from January that’s been put into it, this just feels great,” Richardson said. “Sometimes we put a lot of pressure on kids. But tonight I told the guys in the locker room to just go out and have fun. Because this is why we do what we do. When you get up at 6 in the morning and work out and have meetings and film, this is why you do it. It was just a fun night.”