Usually the team that wins the turnover battle wins the game, especially when one team forces five of them.

But on Friday night, that wasn’t the case.

Fenton (1-1) was able to overcome five turnovers, including four in the first half, to cruise to a 47-18 nonconference win at Maine West (1-1).

“Even though we made some mistakes and had those four turnovers in the first half, we never really broke,” said Fenton coach Mark Kos. “They were never able to get the lead and that was really important.”

Before Fenton’s turnover woes kicked in, sophomore quarterback Willie Wassmann got the Bison offense rolling. Less than five minutes into the contest — the same Fenton squad that was shut out 34-0 against Leyden last week — got on the board twice thanks to a couple of Wassman touchdown passes.

“Their quarterback threw some nice balls and they were able to get behind us on a couple plays,” said Maine West coach Chris Hare. “That hurt us.”

But Wassmann, who threw for 374 yards with 4 touchdowns, also had 3 interceptions. Two of those interceptions came in the first half, which gave Maine West junior quarterback Matt Swanson a short field to work with.

The Fenton turnovers coupled with two Swanson rushing touchdowns kept the Warriors within a possession down 26-18 at the half.

“Not to take anything away from those guys, but I really felt like we had given them those points they had in the first half off turnovers and mistakes we were making,” Kos said.

If the Bison were generous in the first half, they were the exact opposite in the second half. Swanson, who rushed 21 times for 76 yards in the first half, was held to minus-2 yards on 5 carries in the second half.

Swanson wasn’t getting the second half carries because Wassmann continued to go over the top of the Maine West secondary and put points on the board.

The Maine West captain said they didn’t have an answer to stop the bleeding in the second half.

“Our team works really hard at times. We’ve just got to make sure we’re working hard all the time,” said senior lineman Danny Carmadone. “It kills when you’re looking at the clock and you can’t stop the scoring.”

Wassmann’s go-to guy, junior receiver Alex Cowan, piled up six catches for 194 receiving yards and two touchdowns in addition to a 5-yard touchdown pass on a fake field goal attempt.

Fenton outscored Maine West 21-0 in the second half and had just one turnover after a first half full them.

“I told the kids, if we correct those mistakes, we’re going to be okay in the second half and they did,” Kos said. “They executed and the scoreboard took care of itself.”