For a Gardendale team that spent much of this week in turmoil, the end came soon enough.

Hillcrest-Tuscaloosa rode on the back of 150-pound sophomore running back Jertavious Sanders, who scored four touchdowns as the third-ranked Patriots knocked the Rockets out of the post-season picture with a 49-13 thrashing Friday night.

Sanders scored two rushing touchdowns of 19 yards each, one in the first quarter and one in the second. He also caught a 10-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Luke Wingo, then ran a punt return back 65 yards for another score in the second quarter.

In all, Sanders rambled for 159 yards on 14 carries from scrimmage, plus the long punt return.

Gardendale hung close early on, with quarterback Will Thompson finding Jesse Blackburn for the first of two touchdown passes in the first quarter, as Hillcrest was up 7-6 at that point.

But the floodgates opened from there, as the Pats scored 27 points in the second period, answered only by another 10-yard scoring pass from Thompson to Blackburn to make the score 34-12 at intermission.

Wingo’s favorite passing target was O.K. Bryant, who had six catches for 114 yards. Wingo finished with 12-of-16 passing for 163 yards and two touchdowns.

Hillcrest held Gardendale running back Jordan Howard in check. Howard came up with 52 yards on 15 carries.

Thompson was 8-for-17 with two interceptions for 88 yards. The Rockets gained just 193 yards for the night in total, while the hosts gained 455 yards.

It was the end of a tumultuous week for the Gardendale program, after nine players — several of whom were statistical leaders, particularly on defense — were dismissed from the team for reasons that were not announced.

The loss knocks Gardendale out of the Class 6A playoff picture, with one more region game against Jackson-Olin at home next Friday.