FLORENCE — Franklin County’s defense was not able to get any pass rush on McLaurin quarterback Corderius Davis, and he made the Bulldogs pay for it Friday night.

Davis completed seven of nine passes for 196 yards and two touchdowns while Eric McGee had 101 yards rushing and two touchdowns as the Tigers defeated Franklin County 35-21 in the first round of the MHSAA Class 3A South State playoffs.

Bulldogs head coach Ricky O’Quinn said the big plays in the passing game was one of the differences in the ball game. Another key factor was four costly turnovers.

“The touchdown on third and long, they threw the ball deep on both of them,” O’Quinn said. “We had costly turnovers, and they had a short field. They capitalized on that.”

He added that the defense played well and forced several third-and-long situations. The problem was getting the Tigers’ offense off the field. He also said that the defense did well against the run. McLaurin had just 146 yards on 35 total carries.

Chris Robinson was the bright spot for Franklin County’s offense as he had 18 carries for 127 yards and scored both of the Bulldogs’ touchdowns. Jadarius Davis had a tough night against the Tigers’ defense, completing just five of 19 passes for 89 yards with two interceptions. The Bulldogs also lost two fumbles.

Robinson’s 1-yard touchdown run with 8:38 to go in the third quarter made it a 14-14 ball game before McLaurin got a pair of 1-yard touchdown runs to give the Tigers a 27-14 lead with 3:03 left in that quarter.

Trey Hannon’s 12-yard touchdown run cut the lead to 27-21 before McGee put the game away with his 7-yard touchdown run with 6:53 remaining.

Franklin County, the No. 3 seed out of Region 7-3A, finished the season at 7-5.