Miller ran for a school record 296 yards and two touchdowns, but the Rockets needed a late interception deep in their territory to hold off Bell County, 18-14. The win puts Rockcastle in the drivers seat for the district title.
Bobcat quarterback Kyle Nelson completed 17-of-28 passes for 222 yards and looked to be driving the Cats to a go-ahead score.
With about four minutes to play, sophomore receiver Shawnta Zachery made a spectacular one-handed catch and managed to get his feed down in bounds for a 30-yard gain along the left sideline. That gave the Bobcats a first down at the Rockcastle 32 yard line.
Nelson was sacked for an eleven-yard loss. On the next play he was again flushed from the pocket, but eluded a pair of Rocket defenders, turned the corner and gained about 15 yards. Bell was called for an illegal block on the play that left them with a 1st and 26.
This time Nelson pump faked to his left then turned and fired the ball out toward Chase Ely on an out pattern along the right sideline. A Rockcastle defender tipped the ball, but Ely pulled managed to pull it in, turn and pick up first down yardage to the 20.
Nelson completed his third straight pass, this time to Justin Dozier on a short slant from the left slot for a six yard gain to the 14. On second down, Nelson again pump-faked to his left, then threw to his right but a Rockcastle defender was waiting for the pass and intercepted it with 1:57 to go.
“That play had worked for us five or six times and Kyle was in a good rhythm,” Bell coach Dudley Hilton said of the play. “I started to wave it off, but I though it would be open on the other side. We just went to the well one too many times.”
With all three timeouts left, the Bobcats weren't quite dead yet. After a short gain on first down, Miller cut back to his right and found a seam as he gained ten yards for a first down on the Rockets next play, but ran out of bounds to stop the clock. Two more running plays and Bell's final two timeouts later it was 3rd and 12 with 57 second to play.
Rockcastle was in a similar situation during their regular season meeting with Bell County last year. They went with a pass that fell incomplete and the Bobcats won on Nelson's sneak from the one-yard line as time expired.
This time there was no pass play. Instead Miller took a handoff and scampered for 15 yards and the Rockets ran out the clock.
“I think you saw two of the strongest football teams in eastern Kentucky tonight,” Hilton said. “In my mind Rockcastle is undoubtedly the top team in the mountains and it's not even close. We played them tough, but I give them a whole of credit.”
Miller and the Rockets wasted little time in taking the lead. After a Monte Merrick punt pinned Rockcastle back at their own three-yard line. Miller went 97 yards for a touchdown on their first play from scrimmage.
Bell answered as Nelson came out throwing. He passed to Brent Slusher for 26 yards, to Ely for 24 and two plays later hooked up with Zachery for a 17-yard gain to the Rockets two yard line.
T.R. Christopher flipped over the top of the line and into the end zone. Merrick's kick gave Bell a 7-6 lead.
The teams traded possessions, then Rockcastle's big offensive line started to take over. The Rockets went on a 12-play, 73-yard drive that Miller capped with a nine-yard touchdown run early in the second quarter. The big play on the drive was an end around by Shawn Childress that gained 31 yards.
A pair of falls starts pushed back the two-point conversion and the Rockets' pass attempt was no good.
Nelson completed only two of his last nine passes of the first half for 6 yards, and Bell went three and out on back-to-back possessions.
The Rockets kept the ball for most of the final seven minutes of the half, with Miller running up the middle for most of the yardage.
The long drive stalled at the seven-yard line and a delay of game penalty made it fourth and goal at the 12. Isak McQueary's pass into the end zone was incomplete with 46 second to go in the half and Bell ran out the clock.
Rockcastle picked up right where they left off to start the third quarter and ran the ball right at Bell County. They went 80 yards on six plays and Paul Payne found a big hole up the middle and ran 23 yards untouched for a touchdown to make it 18-7.
After the teams traded possessions, Bell's Spencer Greer broke a tackle and out ran the Rocket secondary for a 55-yard touchdown to get Bell right back into it. Merrick's kick made it 18-14 with 5:55 to play in the third quarter.
Neither team would score again, but Bell's final two drives ended deep in Rocket territory.
Rockcastle pounded the ball on the ground, gaining 446 rushing yards on 54 carries. Meanwhile, Bell had only nine rushing attempts in the game and three of those were on Nelson scrambles.
“We knew coming in that we couldn't run on them,” Hilton said. “So we tried to spread the ball around. We had some success, but we missed our opportunities at the end.”
The win puts Rockcastle (6-1, 3-0 in the district) in excellent position to claim the Class AAA, district 7 title. They are the only remaining team with perfect district record.
“Rockcastle has just about everybody back from last year's team and they were the favorite going into the season,” Hilton said. They're a senior football team, but we hit them hard and we didn't quit.
“Our kids fought as hard as they can and that's all I can ask. If we hadn't been working our tails off, they would have beat us as bad as they beat Clay County last week (61-13).”
Next week the Cats will try to rebound as they host Perry County Central.
- - -
Bell County 7 0 7 0 - 14
Rockcastle 6 6 6 0 - 18
R - Miller 97 run (kick failed)
B - Christopher 2 run (Merrick kick)
R - Miller 9 run (pass failed)
R - Payne 23 run (run failed)
B - Greer 55 run (Merrick kick)
Bell RC
First Downs 11 17
Total Yards 287 446
Rushes-Yards 9-65 54-431
Passing Yards 222 15
Passing 17-28-1 3-7-1
Fumbles/Lost 0/0 0/0
Turnovers 1 1
Penalties/Yards 3/20 8/45
Individual Statistics
RUSHING- Bell, Greer 3-59, Christopher 3-14, Nelson 3-(-8); Rockcastle, Miller 32-296, Payne 9-80, Childress 2-37, Garrison 5-15 McQueary 3-0.
PASSING- Bell, Nelson 17-27-222-1; Rockcastle, McQueary 3-7-15-1.
RECEIVING- Bell, Zachery 7-79, Greer 3-42, Dozier 3-11, Ely 2-52, Slusher 1-26, Christopher 1-11; Rockcastle, Childress 2-6, Garrison 1-9.
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