Iowa’s defense and special teams were busy early to set the tone in the Yellow Jackets 38-22 season-opening win over Jennings Thursday night.

The game was played at Sam Houston High School’s Wayne Hooper Memorial Stadium because Iowa’s new lights at Jesse E. Cady Memorial Stadium were not ready yet.

The Yellow Jackets forced four fumbles in the first half and raced out to a 24-0 lead. Iowa held Jennings to 256 yards of total offense and held running back ReJohn Zeno out of the end zone until the fourth quarter.

The first Jennings fumble was on the opening kickoff. While Iowa wasn’t able to capitalize on that one, they did on the next won. First-year starter Reed Dupre hit Jonathan Walker Jr. for a 48-yard touchdown pass with 5:43 left in the first half.

Iowa’s Hayden Lebleu recovered a fumble with 5:12 left in the first quarter, and Lucas Dunn kicked a 28-yard field goal for a 9-0 lead.

Nearly three minutes into the second quarter, Bryceson Fontenot scooped up a fumble and returned it 65 yards to up Iowa’s lead to 17-0.

The Yellow Jackets Kaston Lewis scored on a 66-yard run with 5:44 to put Jennings in a 24-0 deficit.

The Bulldogs had a chance early to take the lead, but Zeno’s 99-yard kickoff return was canceled by a block-in-the-back penalty right after Iowa’s first touchdown. And it wasn’t the first touchdown Jennings lost to a penalty. Quarterback Chris Ned found Humphrey Ned for a 25-yard score with 9:35 left in the third quarter. That would have cut the deficit to 24-14, but it was called back on a penalty and Jennings turned the ball over on downs on the next play.

Jennings had 11 penalties for 96 yards.

Iowa had its fair share as well with 10 for 120 yards and lost a touchdown to one, a 53-yard run by Dupre. But he found the end zone a few plays later on a 10-yard run to put Iowa up 38-14.

Iowa turned the ball over twice on interceptions but still finished with 383 yards of total offense. Walker finished with 72 rushing yards on 15 carries and caught four passes for 101 yards and two scores. J’Vien Adams added 83 yards on 17 carries.

Zeno ran for 109 yards on 20 carries and scored on a 31-yard run in the fourth quarter.

Iowa (1-0) will travel to Little Cypress-Mauriceville next week, while Jennings (0-1), who lost a season opener for the fourth consecutive season, will travel to Eunice.