ELKMONT — The Vinemont Eagles were ambushed Friday night at Boss Hill Stadium. With the game tied 7-7, Elkmont High exploded for five touchdowns in less than six minutes late in the first half en route to a 56-7 victory in the first round of the Class 3A playoffs.

Elkmont quarterback Dylan Brazeal threw for 265 yards and five touchdowns in the first half as the Red Devils (8-3) capitalized on every opportunity the Eagles provided.

Vinemont coach Mark Smothers said Elkmont played a super game, while the Eagles picked a terrible time for their worst performance of the season.

“They threw the ball better tonight than they have in the last few weeks,” Smothers said of the Red Devils. “They had a couple of passes really well thrown. I didn’t have us quite prepared to play, and that’s what happened. We’d like to have another shot at it, but we don’t.”

Vinemont (7-4) gave the Red Devils their first touchdown on a blocked punt that was kicked into the back of a Vinemont player and rolled 20 yards into the end zone.

The Eagles pulled even early in the second quarter when quarterback Reno Jones threw a 19-yard touchdown pass to Taylor Jackson on fourth down, capping a 10-play, 78-yard drive.

Elkmont took a 14-7 lead with 6:11 left before halftime on a 27-yard screen pass to Edwin Glass.

The the Eagles started to self-destruct.

The ensuing kickoff was fumbled, and the Red Devils took advantage. On fourth-and-26, Brazeal found Levi Gant for 29 yards. Hayden Huseth caught a 20-yard touchdown pass on the next play.

“Their quarterback made a great play to get out of our rush,” Smothers said. “We had a couple of guys that almost had him tackled twice. He had a receiver that was able to get by himself. I don’t know how he did that, but he found him. He was the only one open and he found him.”

Vinemont was caught napping on the kickoff, and Glass recovered an on-side kick for the Red Devils. Three plays later, Brazeal’s short screen pass to Gant turned into a 43-yard touchdown.

“We saw it coming, but we weren’t mentally ready,” Smothers said of the on-side kick. “We let them line a guy up outside of us, and when they did we didn’t adjust like we should have. That was something we should have worked on more, and we didn’t have them ready to cover it.”

The Eagles punted after failing to pick up a first down, and the Brazeal-to-Huseth connection hooked up again for a 53-yard touchdown on the first play of the series.

Elkmont intercepted a tipped pass on Vinemont’s next drive, and needed only two plays to cover 27 yards for the touchdown as Brazeal again found Huseth, this time for a 9-yard scoring strike.

In 5:16, the Eagles went from being tied to down by 35 points.

“We made too may mistakes in the second quarter,” Smothers said. “In hindsight, I should have tried to get out of the second quarter being safe, but I felt like we could throw the football. But we tried to throw and made a mistake.”

Jones started strong, completing seven of his first 11 passes for 98 yards and a touchdown. But his final six pass attempts resulted in no completions and four interceptions, including two that were returned for the only touchdowns of the second half.

“He didn’t have the time he needed in order to see what was going on,” Smothers said of his senior signal caller. “He made several ill-advised throws. We had people that were open in other areas, but in his defense, there was somebody right in his face and he didn’t have a chance to see it.”

Eli Harris was Vinemont’s leading rusher, gaining 25 yards on 12 carries.