Holly Pond's Tanner Duke (20) hauls in a 31-yard pass from Michael Lambert in the first quarter Thursday.

FULTONDALE — Holly Pond found out precisely why Fultondale’s the Class 3A, Region 6 leader Thursday night, falling 56-27 on the road.

The Wildcats (7-1, 5-0) gained all 563 of their yards on the ground behind triple-digit performances from Derrick Moore (173 yards and two touchdowns), Jayson Jones (145 and two TDs) and Walter Blair (140 and one TD). Jason King added 72 yards and a couple of late touchdowns for Fultondale, which bolstered its 3A-best scoring average after entering with 49 points a game.

“Man, can they run,” Bronco coach Mike Bates said. “Lord have mercy, I’ve had cars that didn’t run as fast as they do.”

The Holly Pond (5-3, 2-3) loss spoiled a memorable debut by Matt Cahoon and impressive passing attack by Michael Lambert.

Cahoon, widely regarded as one of Cullman County’s finest athletes, shone at receiver in his first-ever football game, hauling in six catches for 167 yards and a touchdown. Most were deep and right on the money from Lambert, who went 24 of 36 for 405 yards, three TDs and an interception.

Dylan Morton turned a team-high seven receptions into 109 yards and two touchdowns. Caleb Jones caught six balls for 54 yards, motored to 75 yards and a score on the ground, and was a hard man to take down in the return game.

Tanner Duke, Jarrett Miller and Kyler Chaney rounded out those on the receiving end of Lambert passes, the former pair for 31- and 29-yarders in the early goings. Chaney also went vertical for an interception in the second half.

Bates figured most of the spotlight would be on Cahoon but reserved his highest compliments for Lambert, who battled through an ankle injury suffered early in the fourth quarter to finish out the game.

“Michael’s been our leader,” the coach said. “He’s a warrior. He has taken lick upon lick upon lick over the last four years, and he’s as good a quarterback as I could ever hope to coach.”

The Broncos ultimately weren’t able to overcome a 22-point swing by Fultondale late in the second quarter. In just seven total plays from scrimmage and less than three minutes, Holly Pond went from leading 14-13 to trailing 35-14 after two long running touchdowns by the Wildcats and a pick-six by Ja’len Sims.

Fultondale will look to wrap up the region title next week at Locust Fork, while the Broncos will host county-rival Vinemont needing a win to lock up the fourth seed and the program’s first playoff berth since 2011.

“I thought we fought hard. I thought we tackled well. I thought we had a good plan,” Bates said. “Our kids, we didn’t back down. There’s times in the past I think we would have, but this wasn’t one of them, and I’m proud of them for that.”