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The contest was billed as likely being close, but Coal Grove scored on six of its seven possessions to secure a spot in the Division V playoffs. Despite the lopsided loss, the Redmen qualified for the postseason in Division VI. Pairings won't officially be known until Sunday, when they're released by the OHSAA.

"Rock Hill has a really nice football team and (coach) Tony Love has done a great job," Hornets coach Jay Lucas said. "Our kids were geared up for it. It's a rivalry game. You throw records out the window and it's two tough teams playing hard. Their kids played their guts out."

So did Kaden Murphy. The Coal Grove junior carried 30 times for 276 yards and scored five touchdowns. Murphy benefited from the blocking of fullback Caden Turner, who played sparingly last week after injuring an ankle in a loss at Fairland.

"Our offensive line played really well," Lucas said. "That's an inexperienced group, a young group. I think they grew up a little bit tonight. The thing I was most proud of was they fought the entire game, which is what I was hoping would happen."

Murphy started the scoring with a 14-yard touchdown run on a pitch left on fourth-and-5 to cap the opening drive and give Coal Grove a 6-0 lead.

Rock Hill cut the deficit to 6-3 on a 27-yard field goal by Rylan Barker, but Murphy broke two tackles on a 36-yard scoring jaunt, followed by Turner's conversion run to make it 14-3.

That appeared how the first half would end, but with no time on the clock, quarterback Rylan Smith scrambled, danced, juked and wiggled before throwing a 6-yard pass to Murphy for a TD to boost the lead to 20-3.

Thanks to an outstanding tackle for loss by Coal Grove defensive back Leland McKnight on Redmen quarterback Dallin Cox, Rock Hill failed to convert on fourth down on the first possession of the third quarter. The Hornets took the ball at the Rock Hill 47, and nine plays later, Murphy raced 15 yards through the middle for a touchdown and a 28-3 lead.

Murphy added TD jaunts of 72 and 39 yards.

"I thought we came out ready to play and missed a few tackles and some assignments," Love said. "They did a great job of game-planning. The snowball got rolling and became an avalanche."

Anthony Stamper led Rock Hill with 62 yards on 13 attempts.

ROCK HILL 3 0 0 0 -- 3 

COAL GROVE 6 14 16 7 -- 43

CG -- Murphy 14 run (run failed)

RH -- Barker FG 27

CG -- Murphy 36 run (Turner run)

CG -- Turner 6 pass from Smith (run failed)

CG -- Murphy 15 run (Murphy run)

CG -- Murphy 72 run (Turner run)

CG -- Murphy 39 run (Bloomfield kick)

Team statistics

RH CG

First downs 8 10

Rushes-yards 24-110 42-326

Passes 2-9-0 1-1-0

Passing yards 23 6

Total yards 133 332

Fumbles-lost 0-0 1-0

Penalties-yards 1-5 3-15

Punts 2-33.0 0-0

Individual statistics

Rushing

Rock Hill -- Stamper 13-62, Simpkins 3-13, Cox 4-1, Bailey 1-5, Lyons 3-29.

Coal Grove -- Murphy 30-276, R. Smith 4-24, Roberts 1-1.

Passing

Rock Hill -- Cox 2-9-0, 23 yards.

Coal Grove -- Smith 1-1-0, 6 yards. 

Receiving

Rock Hill -- Simpkins 1-14, Stamper 1-9.

Coal Grove -- Murphy 1-6.