TOCCOA, Ga. — The entrance to Stephens County High School gives a warm greeting to those visitors who enter The Reservation. However, its football team was anything but inviting to the Seneca High School Bobcats on Friday night.

The Indians, the No. 3 team in Georgia’s Class AAA, were just plain out rude to their South Carolina visitors, routing the Bobcats 31-0.

“We have to try and learn from it, and just move on,” Seneca head coach Ron Duncan said. “That’s unacceptable. That’s not what we are about.”

What’s even more unacceptable was the way in which the Indians (2-0) dominated Seneca on both sides of the ball. Stephens County rushed for 138 yards on 41 carries, while totaling 304 yards as quarterback Dacen Cash threw for 166 yards on 9-of-12 passing. Wide receiver Cody Martin had four catches for 85 yards.

But what was even more impressive than the Indians’ offensive output was the numbers put up by their defense. As if the shutout wasn’t impressive enough, Seneca managed just one first down all night, and totaled 17 yards. In fact, the Bobcats (0-2) had zero rushing yards on 18 carries.

“Physically in the first half I thought we could play with them, but we just let things slip away from us,” Duncan said.

The Indians shook off some early rust offensively thanks to a blown assignment in the Seneca secondary. Facing third-and-26 from his own 32, Cash found a wide-open Dra Laboon streaking down the right hash for a 67-yard gain to the Seneca 1. Ren Teasley then took the ball into the end zone on the next play for a 7-0 lead with 7:28 to go in the first quarter.

“We blew the coverage there. It was the same thing we practiced all week,” Duncan said. “We had seen it, and we didn’t execute. We just didn’t get it done.”

After forcing a three-and-out on the Bobcats’ ensuing possession, Stephens County went on an 11-play, 59-yard drive, capped by Dustin Royston’s 1-yard scoring run on the second play of the second quarter. Dre Cunningham had 40 of those yards, including an 18-yard run up the middle to setup Royston’s touchdown.

“We were down 7-0, and they got field position and we could not get anything going offensively,” Duncan said. “That’s on us as coaches. We have to fight back and see who is with us and keep plugging away.”

Seneca’s offense was backed up the whole night. The Bobcats had minus-4 rushing yards on 10 carries in the opening half, with 17 of those negative yards coming off a blocked punt that rolled out of the Seneca end zone, giving the Indians a 16-0 lead at the break. Seneca had minus-1 yards of total offense in the opening half with no first downs.

“We made stupid mistakes and stupid penalties and we didn’t get it done,” Duncan said.

Stephens County had seven first downs and 138 yards of offense in the first half, while going 6-of-10 on third down conversions.

The Indians put the game away with back-to-back touchdown drives in the third quarter. Teasley’s 25-yard scamper and a 15-yard personal foul on Seneca set up his own 9-yard scoring run with 9:29 to go.

Cash followed that drive up with a 65-yard pass down the left sideline to Martin the next time Stephens County got the football. Cunningham took it in from the 2-yard line two plays later to finish the scoring off.

“We went and challenged them at halftime, and we wanted them to come out and fight and see what we were about,” Duncan said. “We came out and were three-and-out that first series on offense in the second half, and the defense goes out there and lets them drive it down our throat… We just have to keep plugging away.”

The Bobcats will try to plug away next Friday when they travel to Greenville for a 7:30 p.m. kick.

Stephens Co. (Ga.) 31, Seneca 0

SHS 0 0 0 0 — 0

SCO 7 9 15 0 — 31

SCORING SUMMARY

First quarter

SCO—Teasley 1 run (Gailer kick), 7:28

Second quarter

SCO—Royston 1 run (Gailer kick), 11:33

SCO—Team safety, 4:17

Third quarter

SCO—Teasley 9 run (Gailer kick), 9:29

SCO—Cunningham 2 run (Palmer run), 6:17

Fourth quarter

None

TEAM STATISTICS

SHS SCHS

First downs 1 11

Rushing 18-0 41-138

Passing 17 166

Passes 4-12-1 9-12-0

Punts 8-31.9 5-39.8

Fumbles/lost 0-0 5-0

Pen/yds 9-77 5-53

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

Rushing: SHS—Hunter 3-13; Bibbs 3-6; Sims 7-0; McNeely 3-(-1), Earle 1-(-1); Team 1-(-17). SCO—Teasley 11-55; Cunningham 11-51; Cash 6-15; Trotter 8-12; Moorer 1-5; Royston 1-1; Martin 1-1; Brooks 2(-2).

Passing: SHS—McNeely 4-12-1, 17. SCO—Cash 9-12-0, 166.

Receiving: SHS—Stephens 1-11; Earle 3-6. SCO—Martin 4-85; Laboon 1-67; Fisher 1-6; Royston 1-5; Trammel 1-3.