Holly Pond's Caleb Jones looks for rushing room against Cold Springs' Jake Haynes (8) and Fisher Willoughby (5) during Thursday's county clash.

HOLLY POND — Cold Springs ensured it’ll enter the playoffs with a full head of steam Thursday night, even if the Eagles won’t find out their first-round opponent until Friday.

The Blue and Gold used the big play on both sides of the ball to down the Broncos 39-13 and improve to 8-2, their best regular season record since 2003.

Now Cold Springs must wait for the final in Friday’s finale between Addison and Winston County. An Addison win sends the Eagles to Gaston next Friday, while a Winston County triumph secures Cold Springs the region’s second seed and a clash with Cleveland inside the cozy confines of Cranford Stricklin Stadium.

Austin Moore, who needed just 12 carries to compile 117 rushing yards and a pair of touchdowns, is content to leave the worrying to the fans. He and fellow senior Collin Day, who drove Holly Pond back 28 yards on a pair of vicious sacks, expect the Eagles to be prepared no matter who they line up against.

“First round of the playoffs, we’re excited,” Moore said. “Let’s go.”

Moore, Cayde Elliott and Christian Crandall formed a trio of touchdown machines for Cold Springs, which jumped out to a 26-7 advantage by halftime.

Moore made everyone miss on a slick 39-yard scoring scamper and picked up grown-man yards on the majority of his other totes, including a 6-yard touchdown run. He was joined in the ground game by Crandall, who immediately capitalized on Fisher Willoughby’s second interception with a 50-yard sprint to the end zone.

Crandall finished with 76 yards rushing and took a short screen pass 59 yards for another touchdown.

The Eagles used eight different runners to churn out 266 yards, mostly with a new offense Moore was initially hesitant to embrace. Following Thursday’s outburst, the two-way threat had clearly changed his tune.

“We’ve figured out how to just blow open holes, and it’s just green grass for me,” Moore said. “Can’t compliment the line enough on the good job they’ve been doing.”

From one of Cold Springs’ veterans to one of its up-and-comers, Elliott gave the Blue and Gold nation plenty of reasons to be excited for the future. The sophomore had just three completions in the first half, but two went for touchdowns — the screen to Crandall and an 8-yard beauty basketball-convert Josh Freeman went up to grab on the left side of the end zone.

Though Elliott went went untouched on a 35-yard touchdown run in the second half — he capped off the evening with 98 yards through the air and 46 on the ground — his true highlight came on an elusive 9-yard carry on the Eagles’ ensuing possession. Instead of going down for a short gain, Elliott used his hands to brace his fall and acrobatically spring forward for extra yardage.

It was pure ninja magic everyone on the Cold Springs sideline could appreciate.

“I try to tell him to be the best leader he can,” Moore said. “‘You’re the young gun on this team. When we go, it’s going to be your team.’ Plays like that, it just gets everybody pumped up and just let’s everyone know he’s here to stay.”

While Willoughby and Day anchored the Eagles’ strong defensive effort, Tyler Rice, Jake Haynes, Zac Ellison and Jonathan Campbell were also frequent contributors. The unit kept Holly Pond’s rushers in the red with negative 22 yards in the first half.

“Our kids played hard tonight and they executed well most of the night,” said coach Rod Elliott, who couldn’t avoid Ellison’s postgame ice bath at midfield. “We had some itches here and there, but they stayed with it.”

The Broncos first found the end zone on a 32-yard halfback pass from Caleb Jones to Dakota Burks and again later on a 2-yard rumble by Tony Vazquez.

Matt Doyle threw for 114 yards, Jones ran for 73, and Burks (46 yards), Chris Richards (33) and John Phillips (30) helped out at receiver.

Ryan Wilcutt corraled an early interception, and Romey Suryono and Zac Naler each had fumble recoveries.

Two of Holly Pond’s last three possessions were indicative of the kind of tough luck that seemed to be in surplus throughout its second straight winless season. From just outside the end zone in both instances, the Broncos were first foiled by a goal-line stand and later denied by a fumble.

“I’m going to tell you what, I ain’t at a loss for words very much,” coach Mike Bates said. “We’ve got to do a lot of soul searching, from the coaching staff to the players to see what it’s going to take to turn around.”

Since a loss to Addison to open the month, Cold Springs has been practically unstoppable. The win Thursday was the Eagles’ third in a row, a sign coach Elliott is encouraged to see with the postseason staring his squad square in the face.  

“I think this team’s ceiling is what they want their ceiling to be,” he said. “I think we’ve gotten better and better. We’re excited about where we’re going.”