POST FALLS — The Post Falls Trojans didn’t have much of a problem moving the ball on Friday night.

Keeping it, that’s another story.

Four first-half turnovers on Post Falls’ first four possessions turned into 28 points for Rocky Mountain of Meridian, which jumped out to a 35-14 halftime lead on the way to a 63-34 win over Post Falls in the opening round of the state 5A playoffs at Trojan Stadium.

Three interceptions — one a pick-six — and a fumble were quickly turned into points for Rocky Mountain (8-2), which advances to play at Eagle next Friday in the quarterfinals.

“Our early turnovers and not playing clean football really hurt us early on,” second-year Post Falls coach Blaine Bennett said. “We were just doing some things that we normally don’t do and it cost us. We weren’t snapping the ball when we were supposed to, and just not playing the kind of football we needed to.”

Post Falls finishes 8-2.

Braden Vaughan ran for 158 yards and Quin Bennett ran for 161 yards for Post Falls on the ground on a combined 58 carries.

“We thought we could run the ball at them with our two running backs,” Blaine Bennett said. “We wanted to have some balance with our blocking schemes up front. I just thought we had a really slow start offensively. That first quarter, it was so bad and really didn’t give us a chance. Our kids hung in there. At halftime, they were focused and came out and I thought they did a good job and then it got out of hand in the end.”

Rocky Mountain tailback Carter Kuehl ran for 110 yards and two touchdowns and quarterback Kyle Van Tonder ran for 126 yards and two touchdowns, and convered on all nine of his extra-point attempts.

“We run the triple option,” Rocky Mountain coach Chris Culig said. “If you’re reading the defense right, you’ve in theory got three good options. And we’re doing a good job of that right now. We knew we had to get some turnovers against them after seeing them against Coeur d’Alene. We knew what kind of an impact that would have. We knew if we could force some turnovers and score some points, we’d be fine. We were really concerned about Vaughan and Bennett. But we were fortunate we kept scoring more points.”

It is Post Falls’ best finish to a season since 2004, when the Trojans went 8-2 under coach Jerry Lee.

“It was a great season, with an absolute great senior class,” Bennett said. “We’ve got a great administration and great coaches.”

Rocky Mountain 21 14 14 14 — 63

Post Falls 0 14 7 13 — 34

First quarter

RM — Kyle Van Tonder 19 run (Van Tonder kick), 9:37

RM — Zach Irwin 37 run (Van Tonder kick), 3:58

RM — Carter Kuehl 34 run (Van Tonder kick), 2:46

Second quarter

RM — John T’ia 53 interception return (Van Tonder kick), 11:45

PF — Braden Vaughan 2 run (Vaughan kick), 6:48

RM — Van Tonder 12 run (Van Tonder kick), 3:25

PF — Jake Pfennigs 19 pass from Nate Buer (Vaughan kick), :34

Third quarter

RM — Kuehl 47 run (Van Tonder kick), 10:15

PF — Allen Ballew 17 pass from Buer (Vaughan kick), 7:32

RM — Nick Romano 5 run (Van Tonder kick), 2:10

Fourth quarter

PF — Vaughan 2 run (kick failed), 9:55

RM — Van Tonder 35 run (Van Tonder kick), 7:51

PF — Vaughan 2 run (Vaughan kick), 5:52

RM — Romano 49 run (Van Tonder kick), 5:42

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING — RM, Kuehl 9-110, Page 3-4, Van Tonder 12-126, McMullin 4-35, Irwin 2-41, Owsley 1-2, Jardine 2-41, Romano 13-90. PF, Vaughan 28-158, Bennett 30-161, Bourgard 2-32, Buer 3-33, Pfennigs 1-(-3).

PASSING — RM, Van Tonder, 0-2-0-0, McMullin, 2-2-0-12. PF, Buer 5-20-3-101.

RECEIVING — RM, Lattimer 2-12. PF, Pfennigs 3-54, Ballew 1-17, Barber 1-30.