By MATT GOLDBERG

Herald-Whig Sports Writer

MOUNT STERLING, Ill. — It was a bittersweet win for the Brown County football team.

While the No. 1 seeded Hornets defeated No. 16 Bement South Piatt 34-0 in Saturday's Class 1A first-round playoff game to advance out of the first round for the first time since 2006, Brown County knows it played far from a perfect game.

Six fumbles, four of which were lost, were reason for the concern.

"We got the shutout but on offense we lost a lot of opportunity," Little said. "We put the ball on the ground, which we don't normally do."

Some of that might have to do with Rick Logsdon and Brad Ford filling in for Jacob Ward at running back. Ward was held out for precautionary reasons, with a shoulder injury he suffered in Week 9.

"(Ward) said, 'I've got my stuff in the car if you need me coach,'" Little said. "And I said, 'Well, let's see what these guys can do and if we do (need you) we'll pull you into halftime and get you dressed and ready to go.'"

But Ward should be back when the Hornets play host to No. 8 Tuscola (7-3) on Saturday at a yet to be determined time.

The Hornets (10-0) were led on the ground by Joe Cross (12 carries for 92 yards) and Adam Kunkel (5-89).

Saturday was a chance for Brown County to finally redeem itself after being shutout a year ago on its home field in a first-round loss to Pawnee.

"It was a hump for us - mentally for our kids to get past," Little said. "We say, 'You're expected to get past this point and do something in the playoffs,' instead of just making it. It was a big step for our kids and we're really happy for them."

The Hornets avoided being blanked like last year by getting on the scoreboard first - with 4 minutes, 52 seconds left in the opening quarter on a Dallas Phelps run from eight yards out.

Brown County held a comfortable 21-0 lead at halftime. And its defense pitched its eighth shutout in 10 games this season.

But the Hornets walked away from the game knowing that it played far from perfect.

"We need to improve on a lot of things," said Jacob Wilson, who had two touchdowns and two interceptions. "We obviously didn't play our best game and next week we've got a tough opponent. And we've got to start focusing on them and we've got to cut down on all these turnovers. Hopefully we'll play better next week."

The Hornets' defense looked even better thanks to the Wildcats (5-5) committing 16 penalties for 140 yards, which included the ejection of Josh Peeler.

"There's always a lot of emotion," Little said. "For some of these kids this will be the last time they get the chance to play football. So you know it's going to be part of. But you hate to see it because it marred what was a pretty good football game."

Penalties killed South Piatt's best scoring opportunity.

The Wildcats had moved the ball from their own 20 to the Hornets' 21 midway through the third quarter.

But four straight penalties turned a first and 10 from the Brown County 21 into second and 42 from the South Piatt 42. Jacob Geisler picked off the South Piatt pass on that down with 2:31 left in the third quarter.

Phelps also had an interception for the Hornets' defense, as they tried to make up for the four turnovers committed by the Brown County offense.

Brown County scored the only points of the second half in the fourth quarter on runs by Wilson and Kunkel.

"It feels good to win a playoff game," Wilson said. "I haven't won a playoff game yet, so it feels really good."