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The Franklin County Rebels lost to the Page Patriots 50-14 on the road Friday in a first-round game for the Class 5A state playoffs.

The Patriots put up 30 points in the first quarter alone and had 44 points by halftime with the Rebels not being able to overcome the massive early deficit as they were eliminated in the first round of the playoffs for the third straight season.

Franklin County head football coach Tracy Hayworth said his team played down to its 3-7 record for the regular season, which wasn’t enough against a team like Page.

“Coming into this game, I thought we were better than our record showed, but, of course, we didn’t prove it tonight,” he said before referring to the effect of the early deficit. “I knew that we couldn’t let (Page) get out in front of us like that. We had some miscues, and once we had four or five miscues, it sort of got out of reach.”

The Rebels picked up one first down on their opening possession before ultimately punting the ball away.

A good return on the kick set up the Patriots at midfield, and they scored on a 20-yard touchdown run a few plays later to make it a 7-0 game with seven minutes left in the first quarter.

The second drive of the day for the Rebels ended in another punt with the Patriots driving down and scoring a touchdown through the air on the ensuing possession to put the score at 14-0 with 3:14 remaining in the opening period.

On the first play of the Rebels’ next possession, a high snap led to a fumble which was recovered by a Page defender in the end zone to quickly grow the deficit to 21-0.

A penalty for intentional grounding backed the Rebels up to inside their own 5-yard line at the start of their next drive, and a fumble a few plays later had to be covered up by quarterback CJ Seals for a safety to give another two points to Page.

The Patriots then wasted no time scoring again as they returned the ensuing free kick for a touchdown to push the lead up to 30-0 with 1:45 remaining in the first quarter.

The Rebels drove down into enemy territory as the first quarter came to an end, but an incomplete pass on fourth down gave the ball back to the Patriots.

The Patriots added touchdowns on their next two drives with a Franklin County punt in between to make it a 44-0 game with seven minutes left in the first half.

The next two drives ended in punts with the Rebels getting their first defensive stop of the day to get the ball back from the Patriots late in the first half.

Seals and Eric Jones connected on a long pass to move into Page’s territory once more, but the clock expired for the first half before the Rebels were able to advance the ball any further.

They trailed 44-0 at halftime.

The Patriots led off the second half with their final scoring drive of the day as a 94-yard possession was capped off by a rushing touchdown to put the score at 50-0 with about eight minutes to go in the third quarter.

The Rebels answered back with their first points of the day as Willie Cobb concluded a 65-yard drive with a rushing touchdown to bring the score to 50-6 with 1:15 remaining in the third quarter.

The Rebels then got another defensive stop as they forced a Page punt to get the ball back early in the fourth quarter.

With the ball near midfield, Seals fumbled a snap, but he recovered the loose ball, scrambled and lofted a deep pass to Kai Baker to move the Rebels down to Page’s 23-yard line.

The Rebels worked the ball down a little further before Ethan Farris scored a touchdown on the ground from a yard out with about three minutes left. Seals connected with Jones on a pass for the two-point conversion to make it a 50-14 game.

The Rebels then went for an onside kick with Cobb recovering the bouncing ball to allow Franklin County to maintain possession.

Seals and Baker seemingly connected on a deep pass down to the goal line in the final seconds, but the gain was negated by an ineligible player downfield, and a running clock took away the last few seconds before another play could be run as the Rebels lost by 36.

With the loss, the Rebels finished their season with a record of 3-8.