It would have come as no surprise if the River Bluff Gators football team got down on themselves midway through the second quarter of their SCHL second-round playoff game against Rock Hill.  

After all, the Bearcats had turned a Braydon Moore interception deep in Gator territory into a touchdown to take a 17-7 lead, followed by a near disaster-muffed punt on the next Gator drive. 

River Bluff did not panic though. Instead, the players kept their focus, relied on the same strong ground game that got them to 9-2 on the season, including a 48-34 win over the Bearcats in week zero, and reeled off 24 straight points to run away from the Bearcats in the second half for a 34-17 win.

“There’s no panic button. They knew all week, it’s hard to beat a team twice in a season, our kids responded and they just worked so hard.  I’m really proud of them,” said Gators Coach Blair Hardin.

Rock Hill, playing their first game in almost a month, let River Bluff get on the board first.  The Gators took their opening possession seventy yards for a quick score to take a 7-0 lead less than four minutes into the game.  

The Bearcats answered on their opening drive, and the game was tied midway through the first.  Things settled in until the Gator interception gave the Bearcats the ball at the River Bluff 20-yard line. Eight plays later, the Gators were facing a double-digit deficit.  

River Bluff’s defense managed to come up with a big fourth and one stop on the next Rock Hill drive.  With the ball back, The Gators marched down the field and got inside the Rock Hill five-yard line before settling for a field goal, making the game 17-10 at the half.

The second half started with another River Bluff defensive stop.  After a Bearcat punt, the Gators ran the ball seven times in a row, covering 46 yards and ending with a Hayden Myers five-yard touchdown run, tying the game at 17.   

“We’ve been down before, I believe in our coaches and teammates and we just stayed strong and did it,” Myers said.

Myers continued his spectacular season, finishing the game with 155 yards and 3 scores on 29 carries.  River Bluff also got 87 yards from Darius Caine, including a one-yard touchdown run late in the third quarter.  However, the point after was blocked, and River Bluff only held a 23-17 lead going into the fourth.

The Gators started the fourth quarter with a 13-play, 78-yard scoring drive, which was aided by a roughing the kicker penalty by the Bearcats.  

On the drive, River Bluff put the ball in their two backs’ hands and covered all 78 yards on the ground, including on a two-point conversion to take a 31 to 17 lead.

“We know our run game is strong, so we just kept pounding it in and that’s what we did and we got that (win)” said Caine after the game.

Any chance that Rock Hill had at trying to mount a comeback was halted by the Gators' defense on the next drive.  The Bearcats could not get their offense going after the River Bluff kickoff and then were stopped on a fourth down at their own 28-yard line.  

From there, the Gators ran time off the clock, got a 38-yard field goal by Tripp Bryant to give the Gators a 34 to 17 lead and ended the scoring on the night.

The Gators finished the game with 316 yards of total offense, with 147 yards rushing coming in the second half.  The River Bluff defense also had a strong second-half performance, limiting Rock Hill to 57 yards of total offense after the break, while forcing both an interception and a turnover on downs. 

With the win, River Bluff got their first-ever ten-win season and advanced to the third round of the playoffs, where they will have another rematch, this time against region rival and defending champions Dutch Fork.  The Silver Foxes defeated the Gators 41-14 in their last meeting. 

The Gators say they are excited for the opportunity to keep playing.

“We get to practice on Thanksgiving, and that’s about as good as it gets,” Hardin said after the game.

“It’s going to be a challenge, we just got to come focused every single day, take no days off, and just know we got a good team coming up and we just have to focus and play our game,” Elijah Hayes added.