A good running game and a quality defense can take a team far. On Thursday, that combination helped Dallas County defeat county rival Southside 41-14 and in turn finish with the school’s first winning season since 2004.

Whether or not Dallas County (6-4) can ride that same combination to its first playoff victory in over a decade will be answered next week against No. 4 ranked Greenville, but there was plenty to celebrate Thursday evening following the Hornets second straight win over the Panthers (2-8).

“No matter what happens now we are guaranteed the first winning season since 2004, and that’s something I talked to these kids about and we wanted to continue to build,” said Dallas County head coach Marty Smith.

Southside started the game with an onside kick recovery and although that possession didn’t lead to a score, it set the Panthers up on their next drive after Dallas County failed on a fourth down attempt.

Southside quarterback Khamari Gibbs threw a 44-yard touchdown pass to Keshawn Williams to put the Panthers up 6-0 with 9:19 left in the opening quarter. Gibbs threw the two-point conversion pass to DeQuan Johnson to make it 8-0 Southside.

It was a great start for a Panthers team that scored 74 points the last two weeks, but it wouldn’t last. The rest of the first half belonged to the Hornets.

Calvin Starks capped an 8-play drive with a 3-yard touchdown rush to pull his team within 8-6.

After the next Dallas County drive ended with a fumble into the end zone, Southside faked a punt in its own territory but came up well short of the first down.

Six plays later, Darrion Atchison ran around left end for a 1-yard touchdown to Dallas County up 12-8.

After another Southside punt, the Hornets drove 35 yards on five plays to take a 21-8 lead. Starks scored on a 4-yard rush and Sammy Linbaugh added the extra point.

Southside fumbled the ensuing kickoff, but there was less than a minute remaining in the half so the Hornets didn’t have enough time to mount a serious drive.

Smith was proud of the way his team handled a shaky start by keeping their poise.

“We stayed within ourselves and lined up and did what we do best,” Smith said. “We didn’t try to do things we can’t do. We stayed within our limits and we stayed true to who we were and because of that, good things happened.”

Linbaugh tried a 23-yard field goal on the Hornets’ first possession of the second half, but left it a little short. The Southside offense continued to struggle, as the Panthers couldn’t muster a first down on their first two drives of the second half.

“A couple of bad snaps, penalties at the wrong time — it was pretty much the story of our season,” said Southside head coach Daniel Flowers. “Bad things happen at the wrong time.”

Dallas County’s offense kept dominating the line of scrimmage on a night where the Hornets totaled 324 total yards. Atchison capped a nine-play, 51-yard drive with a 1-yard touchdown rush to put Dallas County up 28-8 with 1:10 left in the third quarter.

Gibbs responded by connecting with Ger’Quialius Fails on a 65-yard touchdown pass with 0.8 seconds remaining in the fourth quarter. The pass gave the Panthers some life and gave two seniors a final highlight in a Southside uniform.

Dallas County took back control with one of its most impressive drives of the night. The Hornets marched 59 yards on 12 plays to take a 34-14 lead after Lane Wallace’s 3-yard rushing touchdown, but most impressively drained the clock to where only 5:16 remaining in the game.

After a Gibbs interception, the Hornets took the clock down to 2:36 remaining before giving Southside the ball one more time. Gibbs was intercepted again and his pass was intercepted by Anthony Oliver, who returned it 23 yards for the game’s final score.

Southside finished the game with 164 total yards, but 109 of those came on two plays. The Panthers finished at 2-8 on the year for the fourth time in six years.

Dallas County will play at Greenville Friday in the first round of the Alabama High School Athletic Association playoffs.