The Central Purple Pounders entered Friday night's Class 4A playoff game against Sullivan South with little depth on the bench and perhaps an even smaller margin for error on the football field.
The visiting Rebels ran through them and into the second round of state.
Sullivan South's rushing attack rampaged for 338 yards in a 39-17 win, spoiling what might have been a big night for Central, which hosted a postseason game in back-to-back seasons for the first time in 34 years. Central topped Sullivan South 45-42 a year ago, but this time the Rebels' revenge brought the Purple Pounders' season to a close as they finished 5-6.
The Rebels (8-3), Region 1's No. 3 seed, will visit Region 1 champion Greenville (10-0) in next week's second round.
Sullivan South's bruising offense was led by quarterback Luke Pollard, who rushed for 224 yards on 30 carries and five touchdowns. The senior also passed for 70 yards to bring the Rebels' offensive total to just more than 400 yards.
Central's offense was held to 217 yards. Three Purple Pounders starters were out with broken ankles.
"We came into the game razor thin and missing our three top playmakers," said Central coach Curt Jones, who wrapped up the first season of his second stint at Central. "When you break that down, we were missing almost 2,000 yards of offense from our team tonight.
"The way they stretched the field all night on their running plays made it difficult for us to stop. They outschemed us a bit a few times, and with all the young players and backups we had in the game, we just had a hard time reacting to the other team's game plan."
Sullivan South scored 19 straight points to start the game before Central's Hunter Jones ran for a 69-yard touchdown just before halftime. The Rebels kept up the pressure in the second half, scoring 20 straight points before the Purple Pounders' Jaheim Jones scored the game's final touchdown on a 1-yard quarterback sneak with five minutes to play.
"I'm really hurting for these kids," Coach Jones said. "For the seniors, I'm their third head coach, so it's been hard to get some consistency here. I'm not going anywhere, so hopefully we can get some going for us in the future."
Contact John Mitchell at sports@timesfreepress.com.