Maryville, Mo. — Plattsburg’s Jordan Hartzell produced the proverbial “eye-opener” against Maryville in their Class 2 regional playoff game Wednesday night in Maryville — and it came early.

Hartzell scored what everyone in the stadium thought was a 76-yard run on the Tigers’ third play from scrimmage. But with Tigers engulfing him in the end zone and after the public address announcer thought he had scored as well, the senior speedster learned he’d stepped out of bounds back at the Maryville 31-yard line.

The “eye-opener” to the No. 4 ranked Spoofhounds was delivered, and the Tigers didn’t recover.

Maryville limited Plattsburg to a field goal three plays later and then ran off the next 49 points to dismantle Plattsburg 49-3 in front of 500 fans in Maryville.

“Plattsburg came, they were ready to go and they almost got a quick one on us,” Maryville coach Chris Holt said. “And we can’t do that in playoff time because every game is the championship. Lose one, and you’re done.”

Not that the game was ever in jeopardy to the 10-1 Spoofhounds, but Maryville seemed to click in every phase after Plattsburg’s opening-drive success.

The Spoofhounds scored five rushing touchdowns, added two passing touchdowns and posted a defensive safety for good measure.

Three Spoofhound running backs gained more than 60 yards each. Derek DeMott led the way, rushing nine times for 122 yards and one touchdown. Teammate Gavin Talmadge added 79 yards on 12 carries and two scores.

Through the air, Maryville’s Sam Snyder and Marucs Grudzinski combined to go 10-for-11 for 169 yards and two touchdowns. Grudzinski completed all of his tosses, going 7-for-7 in the game.

Defensively, the Spoofhounds hassled the Tigers’ offense throughout the game, getting their defensive safety with 6:36 in the second quarter.

“We did a good job in getting after the quarterback tonight,” Holt said, “but we are a little older and bigger up front so we expect our kids to do some of that type of stuff.”

Maryville advances to a sectional playoff against Lawson, a 40-13 winner against South Harrison.

“We have very similar football teams,” Holt said, “They have been down this road now seven or eight straight times, so they know how to play in November.”

Plattsburg ends the season at 4-7 overall.