Fairview's Parker Martin escapes an Anniston defender.

ANNISTON — The Fairview fans lining the fence behind the Aggies’ bench were pulling hard to rally their boys, telling them they were stronger than the team on the other side of the line.

But it wasn’t strength that was the Aggies’ problem in this Class 4A second-round playoff game; it was Anniston’s speed — and Fairview didn’t have an answer for it.

Anniston took control of the game early, scoring on its first four possessions, and then settled in to end the Aggies’ winningest season in a decade 35-7 at Lott-Mosby Memorial Stadium.

The Bulldogs were quick on defense, continually getting in the Fairview backfield to disrupt any kind of offensive flow the Aggies hoped to muster. On offense, they were just fast, getting to the corner or hitting the hole quickly and breaking off long runs.

The Bulldogs rushed for 394 yards as a team and had 454 yards of total offense.

“Good team, good size up front, good speed,” Fairview coach George Redding said. “We’re not able to simulate that during the week. Our guys did the best they could. It took us a little bit to get settled in, but speed was definitely a difference in the ballgame. Still played hard, still represented our school at a high level.”

The speed was evident right from the start. Anniston scored on the third play of the game when Tony Hunley broke off a 52-yard touchdown run.

A.J. Brown provided the fireworks after that, scoring touchdowns on each of the Bulldogs’ next three possessions to open a 28-0 lead. Brown finished with 231 yards rushing and four touchdowns.

The Bulldogs (8-4) just wouldn’t let the Aggies get anything going offensively.

Their most productive plays of the first half were a punt recovery at the Anniston 36 that kept their first possession alive and a subsequent personal foul penalty that moved the ball to the 21. Then Anniston threw them for 30 yards in losses over the next four plays.

The Aggies (9-3), playing in the second round for only the fourth time in school history and first time since 2010, managed only 11 net yards of offense in the first half. Their longest play from scrimmage in the half was a 10-yard pass that got them back to positive yardage. Their longest play of the game was a 29-yard pass from Parker Martin to JT White in the fourth quarter.

“That’s the best team we’ve seen,” Redding said. “When we had that adversity that early, I was proud of our guys for settling in. We got down 28 in the first half, but we held them out of the end zone right there at the end of the half and felt like we got a little bit of momentum.”

The Aggies avoided a shutout when Martin connected on a 19-yard swing pass to Mason Black with 1:34 left in the third quarter to make it 28-7. Anniston, however, answered the score with Brown’s fourth touchdown, a 34-yard run on the second play of the fourth quarter. Brown scored on runs of 23, 3, 13 and 34 yards. He was denied a fifth score when the Aggies caught him from behind at the 1 after a 22-yard burst.

Martin completed 9 of 18 passes for 77 yards with an interception and the touchdown. He was sacked seven times. Oakley Mullican completed a 12-yard halfback pass on a fourth down in the fourth quarter. The Aggies had minus-4 net rushing yards.