Roane County’s Lane Watson (88) carries the ball as Independence’s Isaiah Conley (22) tries to wrap him up during Friday’s Class AA semifinal state playoff game in Spencer. (Photo by Kerry Patrick)

SPENCER – A running clock in the fourth quarter of a Class AA semifinal state playoff game.

That was just one of many accomplishments Roane County head coach Paul Burdette was proud of as he gathered his players in a team huddle following the Raiders’ 42-7 win over No. 3 Independence Friday night at County Stadium.

No. 2 Roane County improves to 13-0 and meets No. 1 Frankfort in next Friday’s state title game at Laidley Field in Charleston. Even with all the celebration taking place among families and their players, Burdette was quick to ask his guys about completing the job. And they all agreed in unison the job was not done.

A school in Roane County last won a state title 33 years ago under Spencer High School. The state championship game happened to be played at Laidley Field as well.

“There is a lot of irony to what happened tonight and where we are going to be (next Friday),” Burdette said. “When I took over in 2011, I was the only applicant for the job – I probably didn’t have to give anything to the board members. Probably was my job no matter what.

Independence’s Sylas Nelson (12) gets the ball jarred loose by Roane County defensive back Shay Harper (31) during Friday’s Class AA semifinal state playoff game in Spencer. (Photo by Kerry Patrick)

“Like I should have, I put together a pretty extensive pamphlet. On the front of that pamphlet, it said without a vision there is no direction. And my vision was this.”

Independence did not have an answer for Roane County’s ground game as the Raiders rushed for 429 yards. Their trio of featured backs included Lane Watson surpassing 2,000 yards for the season after he finished with 241 yards on 21 carries and four touchdowns.

Roane County scored on six of its first seven drives with the non-scoring series taking place at the end of the first half with the Raiders enjoying a 27-7 lead.

“I didn’t know the advantage would be that much,” Burdette said. “Independence hadn’t faced an under-center team all year. I don’t know if a team had taken a snap under center.”

The only pass attempt by a Roane County quarterback occurred on a two-point conversion when Jacob Greathouse hooked up with Koltyn Starcher to cap the opening series of the second half and leave Independence trailing 35-7.

Roane County’s Shay Harper (31) carries the ball as teammate Clay Walker (25) looks to block Friday’s Class AA semifinal state playoff game against Independence in Spencer. (Photo by Kerry Patrick)

The final dagger occurred two minutes later when Watson shed a few would-be tackles and raced 74 yards to complete the scoring at the 3:28 mark of the third quarter.

One play into the fourth quarter under a running clock, the three seniors in the backfield exited the game as one. Clay Walker finished with 68 yards on 12 carries, while Shay Harper tacked on another 61 yards on 13 attempts.

“What we do is different,” Burdette said. “We didn’t even think about attempting a pass tonight. We were in and out of sets and kept them guessing.”

Independence’s offense, which averaged 45 points in two playoff games, went stagnant. The Raiders completely shut down the Patriots’ run game to a tune of 2 yards on 12 attempts. A bad snap recovered by freshman quarterback Brock Allen netted a 13-yard loss during a first-quarter drive.

“They have a good attack, but that’s the same attack we have faced the last six weeks,” Burdette said. “Our guys have been comfortable with it. We kept evolving our defensive plan to apply more and more pressure, and we felt pretty confident we could do it again tonight. And man, those guys played lights out on the defensive end.”

Roane County quarterback Jacob Greathouse (3) looks to the sideline before a play during Friday’s Class AA semifinal state playoff game against Independence in Spencer. (Photo by Kerry Patrick)

Roane County had two breakdowns in coverage, only one resulted in points when Allen connected Sylas Nelson for a 65-yard touchdown completion with 9:02 remaining in the second quarter. Allen finished 6-of-17 for 111 yards.

“We made more mistakes tonight than we did in 10 games,” Independence coach John Lilly, who graduates only five seniors. “Roane County played a very good game, they outplayed us and deserve what they got – we wish them the best

“We have a young offensive line and we learned a lot tonight about we have to do in the offseason. We will rebound.”

If Independence had any hope of a second-half comeback, an offsides penalty with Roane facing fourth-and-3 from the Patriot 26 didn’t help matters. That kept the Raider drive alive and eventually resulted in a Clay Walker 9-yard TD run.

“(On that Independence penalty), that’s a play in our playbook – just a freeze play,” Burdette said. “We had not used it very often and had not used it all tonight. When we came out in that set, they knew what was coming – we only run two plays out of it.

“It was a perfect time and a perfect set, and we got them to move. I think we get the first down no matter what, but either way we got it and that was a big part of the second half.”

Contact Kerry Patrick at kpatrick@newsandsentinel.com.

No. 2 Roane County 42, No. 3 Independence 7

I (8-4) 0 7 0 0 – 7

RC (13-0) 14 13 15 0 – 42

First Quarter

RC: Jacob Greathouse 1 run (Coburn Cottrell kick), 6:29

RC: Lane Watson 39 run (Cottrell kick), 0:26

Second Quarter

RC: Watson 10 run (Cottrell kick),. 9:53

I: Sylas Nelson 65 pass from Brock Green (Micah Cuthbert kick), 9:02

RC: Watson 2 run (kick failed), 2:14

Third Quarter

RC: Clay Walker 9 run (Koltyn Starcher pass from Greathouse), 5:32

RC: Watson 74 run (Cottrell kick), 3:28

Team Stats

Independence. First downs: 3. Rushes yards: 12-2. Passing yards: 109. Total yards: 111. Passing: 6-17-0. Fumbles: 1-0. Penalties: 2-15. Punts: 7-26.0

Roane County. First downs: 17. Rushes-yards: 59-429. Passing yards: 0. Total yards: 429. Passing: 0-0-0. Fumbles: 1-1. Penalties: 1-5. Punts: 0-0.

Individual Leaders

Independence. Rushing: Sylas Nelson 7-3; Dalton Adkins 1-2, Cole Laxton 2-11. Passing: Brock Green 6-16-0, 109 yards. Receiving: Sylas Nelson 3-103, Brady Rose 1-8

Roane County. Rushing: Lane Watson 21-241, Shay Harper 13-61, Clay Walker 12-68, Jacob Greathourse 4-42, Koltyn Starcher 1-2, Garrett Brabham 2-3, Javon LeTourneau 3-9, , Jace Miller 1-6.

Next game: No. 2 Roane County vs. No. 1 Frankfort, 7 p.m. Friday, Class AA state championship game at Laidley Field in Charleston.