Rolesville football runs over top-seeded Cleveland to reach NCHSAA 4A East final | PHOTOS

Rolesville and Cardinal Gibbons played an epic overtime regular-season game earlier this fall.

Get ready for Round 2.

Rolesville, seeded fifth in the NCHSAA 4A East bracket, took care of its end of the bargain on Friday, walloping top-seeded Cleveland 49-6 in Clayton. It was the fourth consecutive playoff game in which the Rams have scored at least 40, and their fourth playoff win by at least 35 points.

Quarterback Braden Atkinson had four touchdown passes — three to Anthony Roberts — for Rolesville, which won on the road for a second consecutive week, and kicker Riley Daniels accounted for 11 points on his own — two field goals and five PATs.

Rams tough

Rolesville’s high-powered offense got things rolling early. Atkinson found Jaedon Alford for 35 yards and the game’s first score on the Rams’ first possession. A two-point pitch-and-catch from Atkinson to Jack McHugh put the visitors on top, 8-0. Amir Brown scored his touchdown late in the first quarter after a PJ Hartsfield interception set the Rams up in Cleveland territory. The extra point kick pushed the lead to 15-0.

After a Cleveland punt, Atkinson connected on a 73-yard pass pay to Roberts early in the second quarter to again extend the Rolesville lead. And he found Roberts again a few minutes later, this time from 30 yards out, to put the game nearly out of reach.

Daniels got into the scoring action, as well, booting a 33-yard field goal late in the first half.

Cleveland finally got on the board just before halftime on a Jackson Byrd pass, but the major damage had been done.

Rolesville tacked on 17 points in the third quarter on a Daniels field goal, a Trenten Pressley run, and Atkinson’s fourth TD toss, and third to Roberts.

Cardinal Gibbons rolls

Not to be outdone, the Crusaders — whose lone loss of the season came to Rolesville in Week 3 — handled Hoggard of Wilmington easily at home on Friday, posting a 38-0 win in Raleigh. Cardinal Gibbons, the No. 2 seed, will host Rolesville in the rematch next week.

Quarterback Gannon Jones ran for two touchdowns for the Crusaders, who scored all five of their TDs on the ground. Aaron Anderson, Kendall Scotton and Noah Terry also scored, and Evan Windley booted a field goal from more than 40 yards to round out the scoring.

The Cardinal Gibbons defense, meanwhile, continued its stingy play. It has allowed an average of 10 points per game in four playoff games this season, most of those points coming when the game was well in hand.