B.J. Spradlin ran for 171 yds. and three touchdowns, quarterback Wes Quarles ran for two more, and the Greeneville Greene Devils thrashed visiting Chattanooga Central 42-6 in the opening round of the Class 4A football playoffs at Burley Stadium Friday night.

While the offense got the job done, GHS Coach Caine Ballard gave the plaudits to his defense after the game.

"Probably the best we've played (on defense)," he smiled when it was over. "The linebackers were just all over the place. We challenged Chaz (Story) the last couple of weeks and he played great, and Nick (Craney) is always there. Our defense just played extremely physical tonight."

While the GHS offense struggled on their first couple of possessions, once they got their engine running, the points began to pile up and the Purple Pounders were no match as the Devils advanced to the second round. Another Chattanoga team, Brainerd, will pay a visit next Friday to Burley Stadium.

"We weren't very crisp on offense early," Ballard added. "They gave us some different looks on defense that bothered us a bit early. But we played hard, and we were a lot more physical than they were tonight. I'm just tickled to death with how hard we played."

The Pounders were turnover prone. Greeneville had four pass interceptions and a fumble recovery. Greeneville never turned it over. Quarles was a standout on defense as well, coming up with a fumble recovery and a leaping catch of an errant Central pass.

It was turnovers that led to Greeneville's first two scores of the game. After stopping Greeneville on their first two possessions, Central was pinned back at their own 20 when quarterback DeHart Hubbard tried a pass that Chaz Story ntercepted at the 25 and ran back to the 11-yd. line.

Spradlin took it in from there with 4:44 left in the opening quarter. Ben Ogle, who was perfect on six PATs on the night and now has 58-of-60 on the year, nailed the extra point.

The Pounders got into immediate trouble again. DeMarcus Rogers took a pitch to the left side and was hammered by green-clad defenders and the ball squirted loose. Wes Quarles came up with the recovery at the Central 33.

The Devils took advantage but they had to overcome two major penalties to do it. A holding call set them back, then the Devils were called for offensive pass interference on what appeared to be a touchdown catch from Quarles to Rob Wright. That call moved them back to the 46, where they faced third down and 23.

But it didn't faze Quarles and company. The senior quarterback dropped a perfectly executed middle screen to Spradlin, who took advantage of good down-field blocking and scampered 45 yds. before being knocked down at the 1-yd. line.

Quarles kept it on the next play for the touchdown and a 14-0 lead with 1:58 left in the opening quarter.

The Purple Pounders made only two first downs in the opening half against the spirited GHS defense. Greeneville got its third touchdown after Landon Morrison set them up in good position with a nice 19-yd. punt return to the GHS 44.

Spradlin culminated the 56-yd. drive with another 11-yd. run for a score with 6:50 left in the half and a 21-0 advantage.

Austin Perkins picked off another aerial later in the half, but the Devils were stopped as the half ended.

GHS took the second half kickoff and marched 58 yds. in 12 plays and ate up five minutes of the clock to score on a 2-yd. keeper by Quarles. The drive was a good mix of run and pass with Quarles hitting two passes, one to Wright and one to Trey Anderson, and Spradlin and Anderson did the rest of the work on the ground.

The Pounders got a couple of first downs before having to punt, then Spradlin punched Central right in the gut when he broke free on a 79-yd. run, shedding tacklers the final 20 yds. to the end zone. That made it 35-0 and the clock began to run continuously with the mercy rule.

But Central put a stop to that when they got their only drive of the night, a 74-yd. effort that was highlighted by a 35-yd. run by the nimble-footed quarterback Hubbard. He also hit DeJuan Davis on a 19-yd. pass down to the GHS 9-yd. line, then threw for the touchdown to Matt Short. The extra point kick was blocked and the Devils led 35-6.

Quarles made a brilliant leaping interception of a pass on Central's next possession, and the second stringers for the Devils got a score when Taylor Shuffler broke free on a 25-yd. run. Brock Church came up with Greeneville's fourth pick of the game late in the contest.

For the night Greeneville had 363 yds. of offense, 254 rushiing and 109 passing. Central had 158 yds., 119 rushing and 39 passing. Spradlin finished with 171 yds. on 17 carries, Shuffler had 37, Trey Anderson 26 and Tanner Stewart 24.

Quarles hit 10-of-19 passes for 109 yds. Spradlin caught three passes for 57 yds. and Wright had three catches for 22 yds..

Central was led by Hubbard with 86 yds. rushing.

Next week's second round foe, Chattanooga Brainered, edged Claiborne 26-20 in the first round.