A year after Fairview marched to the state semifinals, the Aggies couldn’t come up with postseason magic on Friday night.

A trio of long touchdown runs – two of them in the first ten minutes – propelled Guntersville to a 24-13 win over the Aggies in the first round of the Class 5A playoffs.

Eli Frost got Fairview (7-4) on the board with a 15-yard touchdown late in the first quarter. But the Aggies didn’t score again until Caiden Hall threw a 40-yard touchdown to Cylas Yarbrough on the final play of the game.

Guntersville (9-2) led 17-7 at halftime, and there was no scoring in the third quarter. The visiting Wildcats stretched the lead to 24-7 following another long touchdown run with 3:37 left in the game.

This was Fairview’s fourth consecutive playoff appearance. The Aggies reached the second round in 2019 and 2020 before winning three playoff games last season.

Fairview was red-hot through the middle of the season, winning six straight games at one point and scoring at least 42 points in five of them. A loss to Russellville – a team Fairview eliminated last year – cost the Aggies the region title, but the Purple and Gold finished second in the region and thus got to play Friday at home.

Guntersville, which started the year 6-0, will play Ramsay in the second round.