The Rockets made South its seventh shutout victim of the season while capturing a 33-0 victory in the first round of the state 4A football playoffs.

Coach Bobby Poss’ A.C. Reynolds club, which improved to 11-1, limited the turnover-plagued Raiders to 89 total yards and seven first downs.

Coach Rick Vanhoy’s South Raiders, who won three straight Central Piedmont Conference games down the stretch to make the playoffs as the No. 2 seed, finished 4-8 overall.

“Obviously, they’re everything advertised; they’re a great football team. We knew coming in we could not afford to make any mistakes, and we made one right off the bat,” said Vanhoy.

The Raiders fumbled the ball away on the opening kickoff and finished the night with seven turnovers — four pass interceptions and three fumbles.

“The old bugaboo: It almost looks like the East Rowan game all over again in terms of us just not being able to do anything,” said Vanhoy. The Raiders fumbled nine times, losing four of them, in a season-opening 28-7 loss to East.

“We were able to make some plays, but we sort of stopped ourselves a lot the first half, and they stepped it up in the second half and said, ‘That’s enough of that,’’’ said Vanhoy.

The Raiders had 74 total yards and six first downs in the first half and were in A.C. Reynolds territory three times. South, trailing 14-0, reached the Rockets’ 14 in the second quarter and was in position to make it a one-touchdown game. However, quarterback Tim Cook’s pass on third down was intercepted by linebacker Kyle Poss, son of the Rockets’ coach. It was the last real threat for the visitors.

Cook, who had thrown for two touchdowns in a victory over Mount Tabor the previous Friday night to help his team get into the playoffs, was under fire from the quick and aggressive Rockets’ defense all night. He was 7-for-12 for 33 yards with four interceptions. Hit often by an A.C. Reynolds defender before he could make a handoff, Cook also lost two fumbles.

“They put a lot of pressure on him, and they were in his face almost all the time. They were hitting him almost every dadgum play. Tim’s had a great season. I’m not going to let tonight take anything away from Tim Cook. We wouldn’t have been here without Tim Cook’s leadership and his play over the last couple of weeks. Sure, he had a bad night throwing the ball, but A.C. Reynolds had a lot to do with that,” said Vanhoy.

Rockets running back Andrew Oak, the game’s leading rusher with 83 yards in 17 carries, scored from 2 yards out on the sixth scrimmage play of the night to give the home team the early lead. It was 7-0 after Chad Rice’s conversion.

Six plays later, Cook’s fumble was recovered by Justin Siler. The Rockets then drove 58 yards for their second TD, which was scored by running back Josh Meadows on an 8-yard run. Rice’s conversion made it 14-0 with 1:37 still left in the first period.

Nick Smith’s pass interception and 27-yard runback to the South 18 set up the next Rockets’ TD, scored by Meadows from 1 yard out.Reynolds’ pass for a 2-point conversion failed after a bad center snap. It was 20-0 at halftime.

Oak scored his second TD on a 4-yard run in the third period, and Rice converted for a 27-0 advantage. He struck again on an 8-yard run in the final quarter for a 33-0 lead. Rice’s extra-point try was partially blocked by the Raiders.

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