ELLENBORO - Visiting Roane County overcame a slew of penalties and a sloppily-played first half by both teams, scoring 18 points in the fourth quarter to finally put away Ritchie County 32-13 Friday night as the Raiders notched their third recent Class AA playoff berth.

The score was only 14-7 Roane at the half and the outcome wasn't decided until the final 5:25 of the game.

However, the Raiders, now 6-4, didn't punch the ball across the goal line until Alex Mace recovered a Ritchie fumble at 6:13 of the first quarter at the Rebel 7 and two plays later, Dylan Cottrell raced 12 yards up the middle to paydirt at 6:02 for a 6-0 lead.

That margin increased to 14-0 just before the opening period ended at 23.7 seconds when Michael Bates scored from a yard out, and Cottrell threw a two-point conversion pass to regular quarterback Rhett Atkinson.

Ritchie, finishing at 2-8, got to the Roane 19 three minutes into the second stanza. But on fourth-and 4, a shovel pass lost four yards to squelch the opportunity for the Rebels.

But Ritchie got a TD at 4:44 of the second on a 5-yard run by Brian Tingler and his PAT as well cut the deficit in half at 14-7.

The next scoring came in the fourth quarter with three straight touchdowns by Roane deciding the issue.

Nathan Reynolds, who led a 335-yard Raider rushing attack with 147 yards on 20 carries, ran 10 yards for a TD with 11:02 to play, making the count 20-7.

Then Stephen Naylor's interception at the Roane 43 at the 10:39 mark set up the Raiders grinding it out to score with 5:25 to go on another Reynolds' six-pointer on a 9-yard romp into the end zone for a 26-7 advantage.

A 30-yard scoring scamper by Cottrell on a double reverse upped the spread to 32-7 with 3:55 remaining, before the Rebels' Andy Lipscomb aired out a 65-yard TD bomb to Chris Echard with only 2:57 left.

Cottrell staved off a last threat by Ritchie by picking off another long throw by Atkinson at the Roane 2 with just 1:51 to play.

No. 16 Roane will play in the first round of the playoffs on the road next weekend at a time, date and place to be determined, likely at No. 1 Wayne.