McLouth ? Despite an 0-9 record during his first season after taking over a moribund program, Harry Hester had full confidence his system one day would produce winning football at McLouth High.

Now that the Bulldogs have achieved that goal, they aren’t ready to let it end.

Armed with a perfect record entering Tuesday night’s Class 3A bi-district playoffs, McLouth overcame a smattering of early miscues and rode the shifty legs of tailback Kevin Stewart to knock off Sabetha, 30-7, and claim its first postseason victory in 25 years.

“I told the kids before the game we didn’t lift all those weights in the summer and do all that conditioning to be one and done,” Hester said.

That burning desire manifested itself in a somewhat predictable way for a bunch of teenagers thrust into the playoff spotlight for the first time, as the Bulldogs (10-0) fought some nerves in the early moments.

McLouth's Kevin Stewart, left, stiff-arms Sabetha's Mitch Allen. The Bulldogs won, 30-7, Tuesday night in McLouth.

After stopping Sabetha on the game’s opening drive, McLouth ran into punter Matt Hail on fourth down to give the Bluejays (4-6) new life, and four plays later, the visitors took a 7-0 lead thanks to a 51-yard run by tailback Kyle Compo.

Things didn’t get much better when the McLouth offense took its turn. The Bulldogs were flagged for a false start on their first snap, recovered to pick up a first down, then moved early again for another five-yard infraction.

“You could tell we had a little jitters,” Stewart said. “A little nerves, a few mistakes. But we got on track.”

Of course, doing so is much easier when you have an engine that ran for 1,500 yards and 25 touchdowns during the regular season.

Despite the yellow laundry, Stewart carried eight times for 71 yards on the opening drive, capping it off with a 13-yard touchdown scamper.

McLouth's Jimmy Steffey collides with Sabetha's Brian Gilbert in the first half.

His 10-yard scoring run midway through the second quarter gave the Bulldogs a 14-7 halftime lead, and a five-yard plunge late in the third quarter effectively salted the game away.

Stewart finished with 32 carries for 256 yards, and for good measure, returned an interception 23 yards on the possession following his third TD to set up McLouth’s final score – a one-yard scamper around end by quarterback Jimmy Steffey.

“People know we’re going to run Kevin. He’s got (almost) 1,800 yards now,” Hester said. “If you don’t know he’s going to run it, you better figure it out.”

Despite the gaudy final numbers, the performance was more of a workman-like effort for the 5-foot-10, 172-pound senior, who bounced outside for two big runs of greater than 25 yards but did most of his damage between the tackles.

“They (the Bluejays) went with a (two-deep) safety. Once you broke that first level or two, it was hard to break a long one,” Stewart said. “The line did a good job of giving me 10 yards per carry – or whatever it was.”

Steffey added 70 yards on 13 carries and added an efficient night throwing the football, completing 5 of 10 passes for 40 yards.

With the victory, McLouth advances to Saturday’s regional round of the state playoffs, where it will face unbeaten Silver Lake, a 45-20 winner Tuesday night against Northern Heights.

“I told them whoever we got in the playoffs, the road to state on the eastern side goes through Silver Lake or Rossville,” Hester said. “It will be a great challenge and by far the best team we’ve seen.”