CEDAR BLUFF – On the visiting sideline, there was a team making its first ever trip to the postseason.

On the home side, there was a veteran football team making its 13th straight playoff appearance.

Experience proved to win out in the end, as Cedar Bluff downed Victory Christian 42-7 in the first round of the Class 1A state playoffs Friday night.

Cedar Bluff (9-2) advances to the second round to face Appalachian (9-2). Appalachian defeated Collinsville 21-7 in other playoff action Friday night.

Victory Christian’s season ends at 8-3.

The lopsided score doesn’t mean the Lions were easy prey for the Tigers. Thanks to a ball-control offense and a solid defense, the Cedar Bluff Tigers made sure that Victory Christian’s offense didn’t get any chance to establish a rhythm.

The Tigers scored on their first four possessions en route to the win.

Cedar Bluff head coach Jonathan McWhorter said his defensive coaches had a difficult time preparing for a Lion team that runs almost entirely an offensive spread formation.

“They didn’t put up a lot of points tonight, but they were very sharp with what they did,” McWhorter said. “I thought our defensive coaches did a great job of game planning and scheming and working on what we were going to see tonight. You can’t completely shut down someone who’s going to throw it 90 percent of the time. I thought we handled their stuff that was dangerous very well. To hold them to seven points is a big deal for our defense.”

Of course, it also helped the Tigers to get back one of their main threats in senior running back Skylar Boswell. Boswell, who has missed the past two weeks with a left hip flexor, rushed for 135 yards and a touchdown on 19 carries.

“It felt good,” Boswell said on his return to the lineup. “Staying on the sideline, I would get excited and just be like ‘Oh, I wish I could be in there. I’ve got so much energy.’”

He finally got a chance to release that energy on the field Friday night after doctors cleared Boswell to play.

“The whole point of the game is to focus, go out and do what you’ve been taught and execute. If you execute right, things just go your way,” Boswell said.

After a Lion punt on the first possession of the game, Cedar Bluff quarterback Kyle Crane capped a 10 play, 60-yard drive with a 1-yard touchdown run. Jim Nelson’s extra point was good, and with 6:05 left in the first quarter, the Tigers had a 7-0 lead.

Victory put together a substantial drive on its next possession, but couldn’t cash it in after going for fourth down and 9 at the Tiger 24. The Lions turned the ball over on downs

Cedar Bluff made the Lions pay, as the Tigers marched 79 yards in nine plays capped off by Crane’s 15-yard touchdown pass to Tyric Scales. Nelson’s PAT was good, giving Cedar Bluff a 14-0 advantage with 9:24 left in the half.

An interception by Victory quarterback Michael Kirby led to Cedar Bluff’s next touchdown. Crane connected with Anthony Taylor on a 7-yard touchdown pass to put the Tigers up 21-0. Another Lion miscue -- this time a fumble -- led to another Tiger score. This one came from running back Thomas Washington, who capped a 13 play, 41-yard drive with a 2-yard touchdown run with 10 seconds to go in the half. Nelson’s extra point made it 28-0 Tigers at the break.

Crane connected with Taylor again on a 23-yard touchdown pass with 4:53 left in the third quarter, putting the Tigers up 35-0.

Crane led the Tigers by going 9-of-17 for 115 yards and three touchdowns.

Victory got on the scoreboard with 1:07 left in the third on Kirby’s 11-yard touchdown pass to Jordan Grimmer.

Kirby finished the game completing 15-of-38 passes for 93 yards with a touchdown and three interceptions. The Lions only mustered 157 total yards of offense as compared to Cedar Bluff’s 369 total yards.

“We had a really good year. We really overachieved,” Victory head coach Scotty Smith said. “We don’t have a lot of speed, but they’re smart kids and they play real hard. They never quit, and we’re real proud of them for that.

“We’re just looking to build on this. We just ran into a better team tonight. They were the best team we played all season.”

Boswell added a 28-yard touchdown run for the final.