Although the Marion High School football program has qualified for the postseason for a remarkable 13 straight years, the Class 5A playoffs haven't been very kind to the Wildcats. In that stretch, Marion has advanced to the second round just six times. Marion's seventh first-round exit in the streak came Saturday as the 2017 season ended with a 54-12 loss to Rich Central over four hours away from home. The Wildcats finished with a 6-4 record. Rich Central is now 8-2 and plays undefeated Dunlap next weekend in Round 2. "No doubt the better team won today," Marion coach Kerry Martin said after the loss. "They just came out and made so many plays and we didn't make very many." The Olympians scored 21 points in the first quarter and led 35-0 before Marion's Caden Hilliard scored on a 3-yard run with 11.7 seconds left in the first half. Rich Central quarterback Jyran Mitchell accounted for five touchdowns, four of them on carries. Martin said the Olympians looked like a good team on film but were inconsistent. That changed on the field. "Today they brought a different level," Martin said. "That's what you have to do in the playoffs. To win playoff games, you elevate. And they elevated." The Wildcats started on defense and forced a quick punt, but their ensuing offensive drive was halted when Hilliard was stopped and fumbled on a fourth-and-1 play. Rich Central scored touchdowns on its next four possessions, starting with Sean Tyler's 9-yard run and then an 85-yard pass from Mitchell to Armani Griffin that was an omen of sorts. An omen because Griffin at first just tipped the ball as his arm was being grabbed by Marion's Noah Mofield -- but Griffin managed to bring in the catch anyway and sprint for the long touchdown. "Early in the game," Martin said, "every ball bounced right for them." Mitchell scored on runs of 12 and 2 yards for the Olympians after Marion punts -- the first of which was blocked deep in Marion's territory -- but the big blow came on a 99-yard interception return by Derrick Maxwell Jr. that put the Wildcats into a 35-0 hole with 3:46 left in the second quarter. "That was probably the back-breaker," Martin said. "That probably put the nail in the coffin. We were trying to get back in the game and I felt like we were moving the ball well enough to be back in the game and then that happened.