Isabella clinched a berth in the football Class 2A with Friday’s 34-8 win over Francis Marion.

The Mustangs (5-4 overall, 4-3 region) scored an important touchdown just before halftime and then cruised in the second half.

Bobby Knox returned the opening kickoff about 80 yards for a touchdown, and Chanley Ratliff’s point-after gave Isabella a 7-0 lead.

IHS went up 14-0 on a Derodgus Campbell 51-yard TD run on an end around. Ratliff added the extra point.

But Francis Marion (3-6, 2-5) answered with a scoring drive of its own, marching 57 yards in about 1 minute. Kenneth Mickens capped off the drive with a touchdown run on 4th down and goal just inches from the goal line.

Quarterback Radge Turner passed to Mickens for a 2-point conversion on a broken play.

Marion kicked off with less 25 seconds remaining until halftime, but another long Knox return gave Isabella the ball on Marion’s 40-yard line.

Two pass plays from Tyler Smith to Campbell later, and the Mustangs had delivered a knockout blow with four-tenths of a second on the clock, on a 14-yard slant to the middle of the end zone.

Isabella scored on its first two—and only— possessions of the second half.

Smith ran it in from four yards away with 1:02 left in the third quarter and added another scoring run with 1:34 to go in the fourth, from nine yards out.