Pike County was not able to corral the Geneva running game in a 51-20 rout Friday night.

The Panthers rolled up 327 yards rushing, and tacked on another 145 through the air to simply pull away in the second and third quarters.

Geneva’s workhorse on the ground was junior Destin Hutcherson. Hutcherson racked up 166 yards on 15 carries and scored twice.

The Bulldogs fell behind early as Geneva scored on the second play of the game, and never looked back.

Pike showed some signs of life at times, and even reached in to the bag of tricks early in the game to get on the board.

Quarterback Kamari Jackson tossed a quick strike to reserve quarterback Jerrel Lawson, who was lined up at wide receiver. Lawson then tossed a deep pass to Deshon Cowling for the first points of the night for the Bulldogs.

The pass was one of Cowlings six catches on the night, two going for long touchdowns.

Geneva took control of the game on the ensuing drive and used a wishbone running attack to grind out yards on the ground, and pull away from the Bulldogs.

Geneva finished the night with 472 total offensive yards.

Raheem Pearson was never able to find running room against a stout Geneva defense and finished the night with just 53 yards on 16 carries. Damion Adams added 34 yards on four carries.

The lone bright spot for the Bulldogs was the Lawson to Cowling connections. Cowling’s 109 yards receiving accounted for nearly all of Pike County’s passing attack.

The loss mathematically eliminated the Bulldogs from contention for the Alabama High School Athletic Association playoffs.