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Mostly cloudy skies. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. High 88F. Winds light and variable..
Cloudy. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low around 70F. Winds light and variable.
Belfry head coach Philip Haywood, left, talks with Bourbon County head coach and former Belfry standout David Jones after the Pirates beat the Colonels 42-14 on Friday, Aug. 26, in the Pike County Bowl at Haywood Stadium.
Belfry’s Dre Young (No. 5) looks for running room during the Pirates 42-14 over Bourbon County on Friday, Aug. 26, 2022 in the Pike County Bowl at Haywood Stadium.
Belfry QB Chase Varney sneaks into the end zone during the Pirates 42-14 over Bourbon County on Friday, Aug. 26, in the Pike County Bowl at Haywood Stadium.
Belfry’s Rudy Blackwell tackles a ball carrier during the Pirates 42-14 over Bourbon County on Friday, Aug. 26, 2022 in the Pike County Bowl at Haywood Stadium.
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Belfry head coach Philip Haywood, left, talks with Bourbon County head coach and former Belfry standout David Jones after the Pirates beat the Colonels 42-14 on Friday, Aug. 26, in the Pike County Bowl at Haywood Stadium.
Belfry’s Dre Young (No. 5) looks for running room during the Pirates 42-14 over Bourbon County on Friday, Aug. 26, 2022 in the Pike County Bowl at Haywood Stadium.
Belfry QB Chase Varney sneaks into the end zone during the Pirates 42-14 over Bourbon County on Friday, Aug. 26, in the Pike County Bowl at Haywood Stadium.
Belfry’s Rudy Blackwell tackles a ball carrier during the Pirates 42-14 over Bourbon County on Friday, Aug. 26, 2022 in the Pike County Bowl at Haywood Stadium.
GOODY, Ky. — One of the all-time Belfry greats made his first trip back to Pond Creek to play the Pirates on Friday night as David Jones brought his Bourbon County squad to Haywood Stadium to play in the first night of the 2022 Community Trust Bank Pike County Bowl.
The homecoming did not go as had hoped for coach Jones as he lost to his former mentor Philip Haywood as the all-time winningest head coach in Kentucky led the Pirates to a 42-14 win to earn his 467th career victory.
“That’s not one of the things I enjoy doing, going against a former player like that,” Haywood said of facing Jones after the game. “I know it’s a difficult situation, and I’ve been on both ends of that. I know it’s a difficult loss for them, and it’s a great win for us. But at the same time I’m very proud of him and his accomplishments as a young coach. ... I feel like his best is in front of him.”
Jones was an all-state running back for the Pirates when they won their first two state titles in 2003 and 2004 and then had a four-year playing career at the University of Kentucky. After his playing career he returned to his alma mater and spent time as an assistant coach on Haywood’s staff.
Being a former player and coach at BHS, Jones knew all too well the key to stopping the Pirate offense coming in: controlling the line of scrimmage.
The “Haywood Hogs,” made up of Brayden Spears, Jake Varney, Max Dotson, Ronnie Blevins and Joe Wolford, dominated the Colonels up front as they ran for 447 yards on the ground on 48 carries in the game.
On the other side of the ball, the “Big Red” defense did not allow any running room for the Colonel ball carriers as they only ran for 43 yards on 15 carries and gained just 179 total yards in the game.
“Our coaches and our team especially worked very hard this week,” Haywood said. “I felt like we grew some as a team this week, especially in some of the intangibles that you have to do to be able to play for all 48 minutes.
“Our execution was better offensively and defensively. I was pleased with the way we contained their speed overall. We’ve got to do some work on our kicking game; we gave them pretty good field position a couple of times and set up a couple of scores. But overall I was well pleased with our performance.”
The Pirates wasted no time jumping out to a lead against Bourbon County as they scored on their first four possessions of the game to jump out to a 28-0 first half lead.
Junior back Caden Woolum hit paydirt first for the Pirates on a 7-yard touchdown run while freshman quarterback Chase Varney scored the next three touchdowns on runs on a pair of sneaks and a 9-yard sprint to the pylon.
Bourbon County QB Clay Estes put the Colonels on the board before the half as he scrambled in from 11 yards away to make the score 28-6 going into the locker rooms.
Coming out of the break, junior fullback Dre Young took over the game for Belfry as he pounded the ball into the middle of the Bourbon defense time and time again.
Young scored two times in the second half as he broke free from 48 yards out and then powered the second score in from one yard away. Aidan McCoy’s PAT made him a perfect 6-6 on the night and put Belfry ahead 42-6, which set up the running clock with 1:26 left in the third.
Young was named the Community Trust Bank Player of the Game in the postgame ceremonies as he ran 19 times for 184 yards and the two scores on the night.
Woolum also topped the century mark as he ran for 11 yards on eight totes while freshman Ace Caudill ran for 92 yards on nine carries. Varney ran six times for 32 yards and the three scores while finishing 0-3 passing.
Defensively for Belfry sophomore Alex Long and freshman Cayden Varney each picked off passes while Isaiah Stanley, Noah Brown, Rudy Blackwell and Braxton Hatfield all made plays on that side of the ball.
The game was the second of the night as East Ridge lost to Harlan 22-16 in the opener and was originally scheduled to start around 9:30 p.m. The second game was delayed however due to a lightning storm and did not start until after 11 p.m. with the final snap coming after 1:10 a.m. Saturday.
“We just kind of kicked back, we looked at a little film and reviewed a few things. We told the guys to take off their shoulder pads and just talk to each other. It wasn’t any big thing we did, we just kind of laid around for about an hour.”
With the loss, Bourbon County fell to 0-2 while Belfry improved to 1-1 with the win. The Pirates are scheduled to play their first road game of the season at 2A power Lexington Christian on Friday.
The Eagles are led by sophomore quarterback Cutter Boley, who is one of the top recruits in the state of Kentucky having already picked up offers from UK, Alabama, Michigan, Tennessee, Ole Miss and several others.
B: 7-yard run Caden Woolum (Aidan McCoy Kick Good) 7:39
B: 1-yard run Chase Varney (McCoy Kick Good) 10:24
B: 1-yard run Varney (McCoy Kick Good) 6:23
B: 9-yard run Varney (McCoy Kick Good) 4:46
BC: 11-yard run Clay Estes (Kick No Good) 1:17
B: 48-yard run Dre Young (McCoy Kick Good) 9:17
B: 1-yard run Dre Young (McCoy Kick Good) 1:26
BC: 2-yard run Estes (Estes to Moody) 5:51
HD Media reporter Jarrid McCormick covers sports in Southern West Virginia and Eastern Kentucky.
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