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Cumberland Gap quarterback Ryan Shipley connected with Whitt Willis for a 34-yard pass completion on the opening play from scrimmage Thursday night at Alcoa. With that, the visitors' side of the bleachers — all 25 or so in attendance — went wild.

And then the laughter was over, and Panther fans would find precious little to cheer about the rest of the night.

Only two plays later Shipley fumbled the snap from center, Alcoa's Jesse Hodge recovered, and the Tornadoes demolition project was well in the works.

Alcoa proved once again that Class 2A football is of little challenge to them, even in the first round of the TSSAA State Playoffs, with a 68-0 romp of Region 1-2A's No. 4 seed Cumberland Gap.

It could have been far worse.

Alcoa improved to 10-1 on the season and advances to face the winner of tomorrow night's Gatlinburg-Pittman and CAK matchup in next Friday's second-round game. Cumberland Gap ends its season at 7-4.

Tornadoes' quarterback Chase James was a perfect 8-for-8 through the air for 175 yards and three touchdowns — all in the first half. His favorite target of the night, Sam Thompson, hauled in five completions for 133 yards, including touchdowns from 58 and six yards out.

Alcoa also had its way on the ground, racking up 260 yards rushing from eight different backs.

The Tornadoes struck first barely two minutes into the game on Jaron Toney's one-yard plunge that capped a 4-play, 45-yard drive. Moments later Tyler Robinson's 75-yard interception return increased the Tornadoes lead to 13-0.

James connected with Thompson twice for touchdowns before the first quarter ended for a commanding 26-0 lead. The only thing that had gone wrong for the Tornadoes were a pair of missed extra points by Derrick Brodus.

By halftime, Alcoa's lead had grown to 54-0, and the TSSAA's mercy rule thankfully went into effect in the second half.

"That is a great football team they have over there," Cumberland Gap head coach Neal Pucciarelli said of Alcoa. "We just don't have the speed or depth to compete against a team like that.

"They are very well-coached and deserving of all their success."

The Panthers used a spread offense to attack Alcoa and Shipley went to the air 50 times against just six rushes that netted zero yards. Cumberland Gap slowly accumulated 226 yards of passing against the Tornadoes but never got inside the Alcoa 25-yard line.

"Their quarterback was pretty good, and he's a good fit with their offense," said Alcoa head coach Gary Rankin. "He's a real warrior, but you could see he got a little bit tired."

Cameron Foster paced Alcoa's ground game with 51 yards on six carries, while Vee Hambrick added another 50 yards rushing on seven carries in the second half.

"We got to play a lot of kids in this game," said Rankin. "That's the one good thing about games like this. We have a lot of kids that work very hard all year, and in games like these they get a chance to get in there and play."