East Limestone was already locked into second place in Class 5A, Region 8 before Friday’s game against Guntersville kicked off, and Indians coach Jeff Pugh was a little concerned with how his team would play with nothing on the line.

Pugh needn’t have worried, as East Limestone completely dominated the Wildcats, holding Guntersville to just 67 total yards in a 31-0 romp.

“I was worried about us coming into the game overconfident, having already clinched a home playoff game, but our kids came out and played hard,” Pugh said. “They got after it, and didn’t let the (wet) weather affect how they played.”

It was the third shutout of the season for the Indians defense, which has allowed just 15 total points in the last four games.

“They did a great job,” Pugh said. “First of all, our defense is well prepared. Our guys knew what they were running and knew what they had to stop. Guntersville has moved the ball on a lot of people, but I think at halftime they had negative 3 yards rushing, and 20 yards of total offense. That speaks volumes of what our defense has been doing.”

While the East Limestone defense was shutting down Guntersville, the Indians’ offense was grinding out yards on the ground with some big play passes thrown in.

East had 341 total yards, including 231 rushing. It’s the second consecutive game where the Indians have had more than 225 yards on the ground.

It was a balanced attack, with Zach Cosby rushing for 82 yards on 12 carries and D.J. Davis having 78 yards on eight attempts.

East Limestone got all the points it would need late in the first quarter, when Cosby scored on a 3-yard run. The Indians added two more scores in the second quarter. Dakota Jefferson scored on a 7-yard run early in the quarter and Cosby added his second touchdown of the game on a 13-yard scamper midway through the quarter which gave East a 19-0 lead it would carry into halftime.

The Indians put the game away in the third quarter with two more touchdowns. Cosby scored his third touchdown of the night on a 7-yard run with 1:58 remaining in the third, and the Indians scored their final touchdown of the night just over a minute later when C.J. Yarbrough returned a punt 51 yards for a touchdown.

East Limestone quarterback Andrew Parris completed 7 of 9 passes for 110 yards, with Yarbrough being his go-to receiver, finishing the game with 76 receiving yards on three catches.

East Limestone improved to 7-2 overall and 5-1 in Class 5A, Region 8, while Guntersville fell to 3-5 overall and 3-4 in region play. Despite the loss, Guntersville did clinch a playoff spot thanks to Scottsboro’s loss to Brewer.

East Limestone also learned its first-round playoff opponent. The Indians will host Boaz Nov. 9 in the Class 5A first round. The Pirates finished in third place in Region 6 and have a 7-3 overall record.

“We’ve got to continue to improve every day,” Pugh said. “The playoffs is all about who plays better that night, because most of the teams are pretty good. We’ll have to see how we are once we get there.”