Ridgeland entered the GHSA playoffs with a perfect record, the No. 4 ranking in this week's Atlanta Journal-Constitution Class AAAA poll and the No. 1 seed from Region 6.
It's still undefeated after playing like one of the best teams in the state in Friday's opening round.
Ridgeland dominated Region 5 No. 4 seed Chapel Hill 63-7 at Bowers & Painter Field in a meeting of unevenly matched Panthers. Ridgeland will host Region 8 No. 2 seed Jefferson (9-2), a 29-13 winner over White County, in next week's second round.
Friday's game was out of reach for the visitors quickly. Ridgeland (11-0) forced Chapel Hill (6-5) into turnovers on each of its first three possessions and led 21-0 less than five minutes into the game.
On the third play from scrimmage, Chapel Hill quarterback K.J. Burton was intercepted by Azavier Blackwell, who returned the pick 37 yards to the Chapel Hill 18. Four plays later, Gabe McDonald's 4-yard run put the first points on the scoreboard.
Two plays later, Burton fumbled the ball on a strip sack and Jordan Blackwell fell on the ball in the end zone.
On the first play of the next series, Chapel Hill running back Chancellor Lee Parker was hit in the backfield and fumbled. Terrance Roberts scooped it up at the 5 and took it into the end zone to set up the big advantage with 7:43 left in the first quarter.
With Ridgeland senior fullback Jalyn Shelton out with an ankle injury Friday - a picture on his Twitter account showed him in a walking boot on the sideline - the host Panthers were glad to have the early advantage.
"Right now we've got the number one-ranked defense in the state - giving up about seven points a game - and a lot of those have been in garbage time," Ridgeland coach Wesley Tankersley said. "Those turnovers tonight were big for us with Jalyn being out.
"We were a little worried about our offense. We knew we had guys who could do it, but just with the continuity of things. - you know, how the offense would flow starting out. So starting out defensively like that really helped us have a lot of energy and gave the offense even more energy. I think that helped them get in the flow of things, too."
From there, running back Markeith Montgomery took over, running for 104 yards and three touchdowns on 14 carries - all in the first half. Montgomery's 4-, 5- and 17-yard touchdown runs came on successive drives in the second quarter to extend the lead to 42-0.
Just before halftime, Malik LeBlanc muffed a kickoff that was recovered by Tim Bowman for Chapel Hill's fourth turnover of the first half. Three plays later, Desmond Johnson scored on a 2-yard touchdown run to extend the lead to 49-0.
"Desmond and Markeith played great. Gabe McDonald - he's been doing a great job for us. Azavier Blackwell. All those guys really did a great job stepping up," Tankersley said. "And I've said that all year long. We've six or seven running backs that are really good, and to see them step up that way was great."
Armed with a running clock in the second half, Ridgeland was content to speed up the game and scored on its only two possessions while playing with a lot of backups in its lineup.
"The biggest thing is your health. This time of year you want to be as healthy as you can," Tankersley said. "I'm sure Jalyn could've played tonight if we really, really needed him, but we wanted to try to hold him out as much as we can to get him ready for on down the road.
"I think he'll be ready to go for next week. Jefferson is a great football program. So it's going to be a very tough football game."