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Midway through the third quarter Monday, Polk County sat half the field away from a game-tying touchdown.

And perhaps that’s what the Wolverines will remember from their 48-20 loss at R-S Central rather than the quarter-plus of misery that followed, a sequence of events that allowed the Hilltoppers to take command of the Mountain Foothills 7 Conference clash and turn what had been a close contest into a Senior Night celebration.

When all was said and done, Polk County (1-4, 0-1) had suffered its fourth straight loss, dropped its conference opener and left Rutherfordton with a bevy of what-ifs and could-have-beens.

The Hilltoppers (4-3, 2-1) drove 64 yards for a touchdown, that coming on Reagan Holley’s leaping catch of an Elmer Littlejohn pass for a 13-yard score, and took a 21-7 lead with 28 seconds left in the third period.

R-S Central then regained the ball seconds later as a Gunnar Alm toss to Donte Tingling fell to the turf and was pounced on by the Hilltopper defense. Officials ruled the toss a lateral – game film showed it was very close – a post-play penalty moved the ball to the 4 and Littlejohn scored from there with five seconds left in the quarter.

Fourteen points, 23 seconds, a 28-7 R-S advantage.

The Wolverines, to their credit, rebounded immediately, with Alm firing a 49-yard strike to Aaron Dickey to move Polk to the 1, where Sanchez powered into the end zone to cut the deficit to 28-13. But Littlejohn sprinted 48 yards for a score, R-S recovered an onside kick and Littlejohn teamed with Holley on a 57-yard pass play to make it a 42-13 game with 8:16 remaining.

The Hilltoppers scored four touchdowns in just more than four minutes of game time, that stretch firmly deciding the outcome.

Up 7-0 in the first quarter, Polk appeared to have stopped R-S Central’s opening drive at midfield. But Holley, back to punt, instead teamed with Jace Gibbon on a 13-yard pass play, prolonging what proved to be a 17-play, 97-yard scoring drive that finally ended when Littlejohn scored from the 3 on the second play of the second quarter.

Littlejohn’s 38-yard scoring run with 4:20 left in the second quarter gave the Hilltoppers a 14-7 edge. Polk would then drive to the R-S Central 19 in the final minute before turning the ball over on downs with 15 seconds remaining.