Staff Reports

FLORENCE – Defending state champion Mars Hill ended Piedmont’s football season for the second straight year with a 48-16 victory in the Class 3A state semifinals Friday night.

The top-ranked Panthers (14-0) pounded out 447 rushing yards with seven touchdowns. They out-gained the No. 2 Bulldogs (13-1) 515-163 in total yards.

Hudson Higgins led the Panther attack with 210 yards and two touchdowns on 22 carries. Jaxon Penn delivered 191 yards and four scores on 19 totes.

Higgins gave Mars Hill an early 7-0 lead on a 45-yard touchdown run with 10:31 to go in the first quarter. Penn accounted for the next two Panther scores on runs of 70 and 13 yards to give Mars Hill a 21-0 advantage after one.

Piedmont got on the scoreboard just 13 seconds into the second quarter on Cole Austin’s 40-yard touchdown pass to Mason Morrow. Rollie Pinto ran in for the 2-point conversion to make it a 21-8 game.

Austin led the Bulldogs by completing 15-of-22 pass attempts for 145 yards and two touchdowns. Morrow had a pair of catches for 57 yards and a score, and Jaxson Howard had two catches for 26 yards and a touchdown.

Mars Hill extended its lead to 35-8 on a pair 3-yard scoring runs by Samuel Swinney and Higgins. The Bulldogs added a touchdown with less than three minutes to go in the first half on an Austin-to-Howard scoring connection. Pinto added a 2-point conversion pass to Taylon Swain to make the score 35-16 at halftime.

Penn added touchdown runs of 11 and 35 yards in the third quarter for the final.

Mars Hill will face Bayside Academy (14-0) for the 3A state title next week in Birmingham. Bayside Academy defeated Southside of Selma 51-20 in the other state semifinal on Friday.