‘Hounds roll

 The Corbin Redhounds used some big offensive plays to put away the Harlan Green Dragons Friday night, 42-16. The Redhounds appeared to toy with this home team before putting everything together and pulling out an impressive win.

“It wasn’t any toying there,” said Corbin Coach Steve Jewell. “They were a big physical ball club, we had a lot of mistakes early. We lined up wrong defensively a lot. I’ll take the blame with that.”

“Maybe I need to simplify some things until we get a little more experience under our belt than we can add a few more things to our defensive game plan,” said Jewell.

It was actually the defense that stood tall for the Redhounds in the early going as Corbin forced Harlan to three-and-out the first two times they had the ball.

Corbin also had trouble moving the ball in the first ten minutes. The Redhounds fumbled on their first series then had a minus 14 yards the next time they touched the ball. A holding penalty helped put the ‘Hounds in negative yardage.

Just when the Dragons had Corbin pinned back to the 12-yard line to start their third offensive series of the night, senior Caleb Watkins rambled up the middle for an eight-yard gain to the 20-yard line. He followed on a run to the outside, shook off a couple of would-be tacklers and out-ran the defense to the end zone. Saxon Okuma added the point after and the Redhounds were off and running.

The TD helped spark the defense as senior Jonathan Goforth stepped in front of an Aaron Carr pass at the 15-yard line and was pulled down seven yards short of the end zone. A Watkins run of six yards set up a quarterback sneak by Roman Mitchell to put the Redhounds on top by two touchdowns. Okuma made it 14-0.

“I didn’t think we came off the ball as quick as we should have the first couple of series,” said Jewell. “We made some adjustments as far as what the defense was giving us and we started hitting the holes really well and the backs ran well.”

“We sputtered there,” said Jewell. “You say those are first-game jitters. Hopefully we got those out of the way and if we have to simplify some things to get were we need to be, we are going to do that.”

Some missed tackles and untimely penalties allowed Harlan to put together a 15-play drive that ended with an Austin Wolfe 23-yard field goal midway through the second period.

The Redhounds answered within a minute for touchdown number three. After a six-yard run on first-down by Watkins, Matthew Taylor broke loose and went 48 yards for the score with 5:18 in the second quarter. Okuma made it 21-3.

Harlan then put together a drive and captured a bit of momentum when Andrew Link, who had 174 yards on the night, bulled his way in the end zone from five yards out with :56 left in the half. The Dragons had cut the lead to 21-9 when Wolfe added the PAT.

On the kickoff, Taylor returned the ball to the Corbin 36-yard line. Watkins picked up a first down at the 48-yard marker then Mitchell hit Vinnie Hoover in the middle of the field. Hoover took it in for the score with 31.9 left in the half. Okuma tacked on the PAT and the momentum was back with the Redhounds, leading 28-9.

Harlan didn’t waste any time in the third quarter as Link went 45 yard for a score on the fourth play. The extra point quickly closed the gap to 28-16.

Corbin had another quick play strike after Taylor returned the kickoff to the 40-yard line. Watkins picked up a first down on a 13-yard run to the Harlan 47-yard line then Taylor breaks away for another long run, scoring with 10:06 on the clock. The 35-16 lead was quickly allowing Corbin to regain control of the game.

Corbin added another touchdown in the third period when Mitchell hit Taylor on a 16-yard strike with :52 left. Okuma stayed perfect on the night and added the PAT for a 42-16 margin.

The Dragons saw a 15-play drive end with a punt midway through the final quarter. From that point it was a JV contest.

Watkins accounted for 160 yards on 13 carries while Taylor had 115 yards on five carries. The duo combined for four touchdowns, Taylor had three.

“They ran the ball well tonight,” said Jewell. “They did a real good job protecting the ball, but Caleb’s got to protect it a little bit more. He carried it a little bit loosely. You see those things a lot in the early games, hopefully we can use that as a good lesson and make a tighter grip on that ball.”

“I feel the line blocked well at times,” he said. “I wasn’t pleased with the first couple of series, but after that they came off the ball pretty well.”

“Roman Mitchell threw the ball well at times,” said Jewell. “He had two or three under throws were he had some guys open but he was right on the money a few times. If we can get his confidence going, I think we have some receivers as well that can catch the ball.”

Corbin 42, Harlan 16

Corbin              14  14  14   0- 42

Harlan     0    9    7   0- 16

C- Caleb Watkins, 80 run (Okuma kick)

C- Roman Mitchell, 1 run (Okuma kick)

H- Wolfe, 23 yd FG

C- Matthew Taylor, 48 run (Okuma kick)

H- Andrew Link, 5 run (kick blocked)

C- Vin Hoover, 52 pass from Mitchell (Okuma kick)

H- Link 45 run (Wolfe kick)

C- Taylor, 47 run (Okuma kick)

C- Taylor, 16 pass from Mitchell (Okuma kick)