The Bowdon High School football team had seen enough of being on the wrong side of its rivalry with Bremen, and the Red Devils put an emphatic end to their three-game losing streak against the Blue Devils in a 30-10 victory on Friday night at Warren P. Sewell Field.

In the process, Bowdon clinched a first-round home playoff game next Friday against Washington-Wilkes.

“It feels so good. We got out there and played our hearts out, got it done,” Red Devil senior running back Eric Slaughter said. “We did what we were supposed to (do).”

And for Bowdon coach Dwight Hochstetler, who earned win No. 200 at the school and No. 304 overall, it was the line of scrimmage that counted most.

“We (were) overmatched on the line of scrimmage, but I thought our kids really played hard and didn’t get knocked off the line of scrimmage,” Hochstetler said. “And that was a big key for us, and I thought we did a tremendous job blocking them, especially the first half.”

Red Devil senior quarterback Avery Cheeks, who had some important runs to extend drives, said it was all about giving the extra effort.

“It’s the game of the year,” Cheeks said. “I mean, I pushed 100 percent. Gave it my all.”

A fumble by Nick Cash on the opening kickoff was a bad omen for Bremen on a night that didn’t leave the visitors with much to enjoy.

But it wasn’t so much the three points on a 36-yard Alex Warren field goal on the ensuing drive for the Red Devils (9-1, 5-1 Region 6-A) that mattered so much in the convincing win. It was the three Bowdon drives of at least 63 yards in the opening half en route to a 23-7 edge at the break.

After Bremen (6-4, 4-2 Region 6-A) could do little with the ball on its first possession, the Red Devils began to really get things going with an 11-play, 86-yard drive capped by a 4-yard touchdown run for sophomore running back Maricio Askew that with Warren’s extra point pushed it to 10-0 with 1:03 left in the first quarter.

Bowdon’s defense remained stingy when it forced a three-and-out that gave it the ball back for another 11-play drive. Cheeks finished it off with a scoring run from just inches out, making it 16-0 as the extra point was no good with 5:10 remaining in the second quarter.

But the play that may have made sure Bremen would never gain much momentum on this night came just a few plays after Cash bounced off tacklers for an 11-yard touchdown to cut it to 16-7 with Josh Golden’s extra point with 4:19 left in the half.

That defining play came with just less than a minute to play in the half when Nathan Montgomery ran for 41 yards on a fake punt to put the Red Devils in the red zone, and on the very next play, Askew hit the corner and outran the Blue Devils to the end zone on a 13-yard scoring run.

“When I hit that outside, I was gone,” Askew said.

Warren’s extra point made it 23-7 with 36 seconds remaining in the half.

The only points for much of the second half came on a 32-yard Golden field goal late in the third quarter to cut it to 23-10, though Bowdon’s Cheeks had an 82-yard interception return for a touchdown called back on a block in the back midway through the third quarter.

But five plays after Bremen turned the ball over on downs late in the fourth, Cory Higginbotham scored on a run from inside the 1-yard line that finished the scoring on a big night for the Red Devils.

Askew finished the night with 140 yards and two touchdowns on 23 carries.

Blue Devil coach Ricky Tolleson didn’t make himself available for an interview after the loss.

Bremen offensive coordinator Scott Hodges echoed Hochstetler’s assessment that the line of scrimmage decided the contest. He also said the relatively uneventful second half that was more closely-contested was the kind of game the Blue Devils had expected.

“That second half is the kind of game we thought it would be,” Hodges said.