2nd Half Showdown

It was the battle of two halves for the Corbin Redhounds last week in a 17-14 loss to the Bell County Bobcats. In the first half, Bell County had two touchdowns and went into the dressing room with a 14-0 lead.
“We were really down at the half,” said Corbin coach Steve Jewell. “But, the kids came back and played really well in the second half. I felt like we did what we needed to do to win the game,”
Down 14-0, the Redhounds made one heck of a comeback. Junior Clint Cashen began hitting on his passes to Rod Madon, Corey Sewell, Josh Sanders and Jake Reeves. He ended up hitting on 11 passes for 152 yards.
In the third quarter he found Madon open on a 15 yard pass play to score with 3:25 left in the period. Then in the fourth quarter, the Redhounds made the comeback and tied the game when he hit Sewell on a pass play that covered 56 yards with 7:36 left in the game.
But, the last drive of the game saw a determined Bell County (3-1) drive the ball down the field and score the wining field goal, a 23 yarder by Monte Merrick on the last play of the game.
“It was basically two halves,” said Jewell. “But, it wasn’t a very good first half and I felt that way after the game but after we looked at the tape, I think the kids played hard the whole ballgame. We just dropped a lot of balls and missed a lot of passes in the first half but we came back and had a really good second half.”
“We were 11 of 13 in passing in the second half,” said Jewell. “It was a very good second half and defensively I felt we played well at times but then we gave up the big plays every now and then.”
“We just couldn’t get one more touchdown punched in there,” said Jewell. “We took what they were giving us.”
“Same way defensively, we didn’t change a lot, we just played a much better ballgame in the second half,” said Jewell.
The Redounds held the powerful Bobcats to under 200 yards on the ground as TR Christopher led the ‘Cats with 73 yards on 13 carries while Spencer Greer had 43 yards on 11 totes.
The big play for Bell County came late in the game when quarterback Kyle Nelson hit Shawnta Zachery at the six yard line with three seconds left in the game. Zachery caught four passes for 69 yards.
For Corbin, Sewell led the offense with 97 yards on seven catches while Madon had eight catches for 81 yards. Cashen finished the game hitting on 18 of 29 for 204 yards. The rushing game was held to 27 net yards.
Defensively, it was a big night for the Redhounds as Cashen had 12 tackles in the game while Madon had 11 and Anthony Miller had 10.
Corbin will travel to Pulaski County Friday night to take on the winless Maroons. However, Pulaski County is not a team to overlook. The Maroons have lost to Danville (48-8), East Jessamine (54-3), Franklin County (42-3) and Campbellsville (32-13). The four teams have a combined record of 12-6 with only Campbellsville having a losing record.
“They are very similar to last year and have a lot of kids back,” said Jewell. “They don’t have the same quarterback, are 0-4 and obviously looking to win ball games too.”
Last year when the two teams met, it was Corbin that was 0-5 and picked up the first win of the season with a 27-19 win at Campbell Field.
“They are going to spread you all over the field,” said Jewell. “They will have four wides, and five wides. The past two games they have been working a freshman quarterback in.”
Chris Muse, who is 14 of 35 with two touchdowns, will lead the Maroons at quarterback. He can also run the ball, he has 116 yards and a touchdown.
Muse has several receivers to throw the ball to in Darrick Bechard, R.C. White and Stephen Baker. Bechard is the team’s leading rusher with 332 yards and two touchdowns.
“What they do is very similar to what South Laurel does,” Jewell said. “They tend to run the ball more even though they spread you out. The quarterback will run it whether it is a draw or trap.”
“The biggest factor that we have to do defensively is to stop their running game,” said Jewell. “Even though they give you the appearance of a passing attack, I think if you look at their stats they are running the ball more than they are throwing out of it.”
“They were a big physical team last year,” Jewell said. “It really gave us fits.”
“They switched over their defenses a little this year, but still yet they have been off two weeks, they are going to be hungry and they are at home, they were on the road before that, it’s going to take every effort we can get.”

Bell County 17, Corbin 14
Bell Co. 7 7 0 3- 17
Corbin 0 0 7 7- 14
First Quarter
BC – T.J. Christopher, 1 run (Monte Merrick kick)
Second Quarter
BC – Simpson, 1 run (Merrick kick)
Third Quarter
C – Rod Madon, 15 pass from Clint Cashen (Wagers kick)
Fourth Quarter
C – Corey Sewell, 56 pass from Cashen (Wagers kick)
BC – Merrick 23 field goal