The Bowdon High School football team’s backs and receivers got loose early and often in a 49-35 victory against Washington-Wilkes in a first-round Class A state playoff game at Warren P. Sewell Field on Friday night, setting up a showdown at No. 1 Wesleyan, the defending state champion, next Friday.

With strong nights from running backs Wesley Stephens and Maricio Askew and an all-out aerial assault by senior quarterback Avery Cheeks, the Red Devils (10-1) did enough on offense to make sure that the outcome was never in much doubt even as the Tigers (5-6) piled up points, as well.

In the process, Bowdon earned its first playoff victory since 2005 and gave 22nd-year Red Devil coach Dwight Hochstetler his highest playoff scoring output at the school.

“Offensively I thought we put on a great show,” Hochstetler said.

Offense was aplenty in the opening 24 minutes. Bowdon piled up 315 yards in the first two quarters — spearheaded by a 91-yard catch-and-run touchdown by Maricio Askew on a pass from Cheeks and a 77-yard Cheeks-to-Terell Thornton pass play.

Washington-Wilkes provided plenty of offense of its own in the first half with 245 yards, highlighted by a 71-yard drive that cut it to 28-21 with 40 seconds remaining in the half on a 29-yard touchdown pass from Teverrius Jones to Deon Jackson.

After a quick score in the first two minutes of the game on a 2-yard run by Eric Scott, set up by a 53-yard pass three plays earlier, put the visitors up 6-0, the Red Devils responded with Cheeks’ pass to Thornton. On the play, Thornton broke a tackle before breaking away over the final 60 yards to put Bowdon ahead 7-6 on Alex Warren’s extra point, and the Red Devils would never trail again. It would be the first of seven successful extra points for the senior kicker.

Thornton said he knew the team was capable of having a big passing night.

“I knew it was coming up in the playoffs. We (were) just saving it,” Thornton said. “Catch them off-guard, that’s the way we do.”

On the ensuing drive, the Tigers marched inside the Red Devil 10-yard line, where they fumbled and Askew recovered the ball. Two plays later, Cheeks hit Askew for the highlight-reel, 91-yard play that made it 14-6 with 1:36 left in the first quarter.

Wesley Stephens, who rushed for 135 yards on 11 carries — including 87 yards in the fourth quarter to help ice the game — pushed it to 21-6 on his 22-yard scoring run almost midway through the second quarter before Scott scored again on a 1-yard run and then ran for the two-point conversion to cut it to 21-14 with 4:35 remaining in the half.

It only took Bowdon two plays from scrimmage to respond, when Paul Hammonds handed off to Nathan Montgomery, who hit a wide-open Askew for a 59-yard touchdown pass to make it 28-14 before the Tigers’ score late in the half to pull within seven points at the break.

The two teams exchanged touchdowns in the third quarter, with the Red Devils’ J.B. Stephens catching a ball that was tipped and running it in for a touchdown on a 45-yard catch-and-run before Washington-Wilkes responded with an 11-play, 61-yard drive capped by an 18-yard touchdown pass to Jackson to cut it to 35-28 with 4:20 left in the third.

Midway through the fourth, a 37-yard run by Wesley Stephens put Bowdon back in Tiger territory and set up a 22-yard Askew scoring run on the next play with 5:22 remaining in the contest to push it to 42-28.

Wesley Stephens credited his offensive line for his big night and said it was fun hitting the holes late in the game.

“It’s a good feeling,” Wesley Stephens said. “I mean, once you see the field open up, you just look towards the end zone and know that that’s where you’ve got to go.”

Hochstetler said Wesley Stephens is elusive once he gets in the open field.

“Once he hits a hole, he’s such a little guy (that) it’s hard to find him,” Hochstetler said. “So by the time they locate him, he’s already down the field.”

On the first play of the ensuing drive, Daquan Heard caught his only pass of the night, a 62-yard scoring strike from Jones to cut it to 42-35.

Once again, the Red Devils quickly responded, using only four plays to go 73 yards, as Cheeks’ 27-yard run with 2:59 left finished the scoring.

Cheeks was 6-for-6 passing for 214 yards and three scores in addition to his running touchdown. As a team, Bowdon was 7-for-7 passing for 273 yards and four scores.

“They played different coverage than they normally do all year, and that’s probably the reason we (were) able to burn them a couple times because they weren’t accustomed to playing in (those) types of coverage,” Hochstetler said.

And though it certainly wasn’t an impressive defensive effort for the Red Devils, they got enough stops to move on to Round 2.

“We just gave up too many big plays, and the game was a lot closer than I wanted it to be,” Hochstetler said. “But, you know, I’m just proud we put up 49 points and held them to 35.”