Rob Roos | Sault Evening News Carney-Nadeau quarterback Michael Flanagan (20) gets ready to unleash a pass while Cedarville’s Trevor Norris (55) pursues during Thursday night’s playoff game.

CEDARVILLE — Carney-Nadeau made its first appearance in the football playoffs but ran into a veteran team Thursday night.

The U.P.’s No. 3-ranked Cedarville Trojans downed the Wolves 38-6 in an 8-Player Division 2 playoff game. Grant Fountain had 10 carries for 120 yards and three touchdowns for the Trojans (6-1), who advance and will be home again next week against Rapid River (6-1).

Carney-Nadeau finishes 3-4. It was the final game for Carney-Nadeau seniors Michael Flanagan, Juan Maier and Robbie Windsor.

“Cedarville is as good as advertised, and we knew coming in that this was a tough matchup,” Carney-Nadeau coach Jim Belec said. “The biggest thing for us and my message to our team was ‘be thankful we are playing another game.’ We only played four games, so we were happy to get this one in.

“We did some good things in the first half,” Belec said. “We had guys open over the top of their defense but couldn’t connect on any deep passes. We didn’t execute as well as we could have, but give credit to their defense. We had some key injuries that hurt us too, but our kids didn’t quit and fought to the end. I couldn’t be prouder of that.”

Cedarville grabbed a 22-0 lead in the first quarter. Fountain had touchdown runs of 13 and 15 yards, and Bailey Hilts threw a 20-yard TD pass to Aiden Ondrus.

Josh Newell had a 1-yard TD run, and Fountain had a 15-yard run in the second quarter. The Trojans also picked up a safety as Josh Newell tackled Juan Maier in the end zone.

Cedarville led 38-0 at halftime. The Trojans sat out their starters in the second half. Hilts finished with 135 yards rushing on 10 carries and he was 6-of-13 passing for 96 yards.

“It was a good night,” Cedarville coach Scott Barr said. “We found out early that we had some advantages on the line. Once we built a lead, we were able to get a lot of kids in the game and give everyone a playoff experience. We brought up our JVs, and those kids got to play the entire second half. We were able to keep our starters healthy and get them some rest.”

The Wolves struggled to find much offense most of the night, but they did get a late highlight with their final drive in the fourth quarter. After driving 95 yards, the Wolves broke through on the last play of the game as Michael Flanagan threw a 5-yard touchdown pass to Jerry Lee LaFord as time expired.

“We have plenty to build on for next year,” Belec said. “We have a lot of good pieces coming back. We have a lot of younger guys who were already a big part of the team back next year.”