Locally, Bell County (10-0) hosts Lawrence County (0-10), Middlesboro (7-3) host Shelby Valley (5-5) and Pineville (3-7) is at Paintsville (5-5). All of tonight’s games kick off at 7:30 p.m.
In Class 4-A, Lawrence County doesn’t figure to give the Bobcats much trouble on Log Mountain.
With several members of the baseball team also on the Bell football squad, expect the Bobcats to gain a measure of revenge for last season’s sub-state loss to the Bulldogs.
Lawrence County started the season off playing fairly well as they gave Belfry a tough game before losing 20-13 back on Sept. 5. But have steadily declined and finished the regular season with a 39-0 loss to Letcher Central.
The only common opponent between the Bulldogs and Bobcats is Sheldon Clark.
Lawrence lost to them 30-12 while Bell County beat Sheldon Clark 48-0.
Bell is ranked number one in their class and has yet to be seriously challenged in putting together a perfect regular season.
They’ve shut out their last five opponents and have given up just 21 points — 2.1 points per game — on the season.
A flukish 80-yard TD pass by Volunteer, Tenn., is the only score the Bobcats have given up before the fourth quarter in any of their games.
Tyler Harbin, Billie Lawson, Matt Simpson, and John Dudley Hilton have anchored the defensive interior that allows just 71 rushing yards per game.
The pass defense is even better as teams are throwing for just 65 yards per contest against the Bobcats. Matt Raines has three of the team’s 10 interceptions while Keith Lowe has four fumble recoveries.
On offense the Bobcats are led by senior running back Spencer Greer. Limited by injuries and the fact that most of Bell’s games have been blowouts, Greer has still ran for 1,054 yards on just 119 carries.
With the offensive line led by big senior Jacob King (6’0, 306) and strong juniors in Cody Marcum, Mike Howard and Joe Collett paving the way, the Bobcats have ran for over 2700 yards.
Justin Goodin, Simpson, Dominic Carton and Cory Davenport have combined for well over 1,000 yards complementing Greer.
Senior quarterback Shawnta Zachery hasn’t had to carry the team with his arm, but he has shown that he can if the need arises.
He’s completed 49-of-75 passes for 926 yards with an incredible 15:1 touchdown to interception ratio.
Senior Chase Ely is his favorite target as he’s hauled in 20 passes for 375 yards and five TDs.
In scoring over 48 points per game, Bell doesn’t leave many opportunities for Monte Merrick to pad his field goal stats. He’s made four on the season and most of his attempts have come from over 50 yards.
Merrick should put his name atop the state record books tonight as his 197 career extra points are just four away from all-time state mark.
Middlesboro vs. Shelby Valley
The Wildcats come to Middlesboro in one of the more intriguing first round match-ups in Class 2-A.
The Yellow Jackets seem to peeking at the right time of the year as they’ve put up 154 points in closing the season with three straight wins.
Perhaps no successful team in the state has relied as heavily on one player as the Jackets have on Hunter Adams. The senior running back has ran for 1,182 yards on 146 carries and caught 20 passes for 283 yards. He is sixth in the state in scoring with 156 total points — 19 rushing TDs, 3 receiving TDs, 3 return TDs and 3 two-point conversions. He also leads the team with 83 tackles (60 solo).
Adams is one of ten finalists for the Army Iron Man of the Year Award that recognizes the state’s best two-way players. Fans can vote online at www.TheSportsFlash.com, starting on Monday, Nov. 17 and ending at midnight on Nov. 30. The winner will be announced on Monday, Dec. 1.
But over the course of the season the Jacket passing game has made strides as freshman Chase Roark has gained experience.
For the season Roark has now completed 70-of-117 passes for 1230 yards and 13 touchdowns against five interceptions.
Junior Matt Powers leads the team with 24 catches for 581 yards and six TDs while seniors Eddie Gilbert and Josh Branham have been coming on down the stretch.
Middlesboro’s success passing and running out of the spread formation along with their use of the power I has made them tough to prepare for.
Fullback Cody Foister has also come on to give the running game a change of pace option. He’s run for 441 yards and five touchdowns on 64 carries.
MHS has benefitted from a tough schedule with six games against larger schools. They went 4-2 against the bigger teams and their only loss in 2-A was a 14-7 slugfest against an unbeaten Corbin team.
The offensive and defensive lines have been helped plenty from the early challenges and have gelled to become team strengths entering the post-season.
Who wins the battles up front will go a long way toward deciding which team comes out on top tonight.
Senior linebacker Brett Pittman, big tackle Cameron Kyle and end Jon Evans join Adams as the most consistent players on the MHS defense.
The Wildcats don’t have a single senior on their roster and feature sophomores at several key positions.
Shelby Valley’s offense is similar to the one Harlan County used to give the Jackets fits and they split their carries evenly between three backs. They’ve run for 3,086 yards on the season while passing for just 487.
Sophomore wing back Dillon Hughes has run for 864 yards on 120 carries with a team-leading 12 TDs. Junior Nathan Mullins is the other split back and has carried the ball 103 times for 725 yards and nine scores.
Sophomore fullback B.J. Roberts is the type of player that has given the Jackets problems this season. He’s gained 832 yards on 106 carries and found the end zone five times.
The Wildcats start a sophomore at quarterback as well in Cody Varney. He’s completed 33-of-72 passes for 458 yards with 8 TDs and 6 interceptions.
Shelby Valley allows 192 yards per game on the ground and 37 through the air.
The defense is led by Roberts and fellow sophomore Tanner Tackett at linebackers.
Though the Wildcats are 5-5, three of their losses have come to larger schools Belfry, Knox Central and Breathitt County. Their two district losses were very close games — 14-12 at home against Bath County and 13-12 at home against Prestonsburg.
Prestonsburg had to score a late touchdown to pull out that game on Halloween night.
The only common opponent between the teams is Knott Central and both teams won easily. Middlesboro 54-14 and Shelby Valley 46-14.
This one has all the makings of a first round classic with the winner likely going to Prestonsburg for round two.
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