Mission accomplished!
Pikeville capped off a perfect season with a fifth state championship, dominating bitter-rival Paintsville from start to finish as the Panthers rolled to a 43-0 victory before 7,800 fans at Kroger Field on Friday afternoon.
The Panthers, 14-0, were able to put to rest last year’s heartbreaking loss to Beechwood. Paintsville finished 11-4.
“I’m just so proud of our players,” McNamee said. “To go out this way with this group of seniors is pretty special.”
Quarterback Isaac McNamee passed for 211 yards and three touchdowns, including a pair to Jackson Hensley (63 yards and 15 yards) as the Panthers built a 28-0 halftime lead.
Pikeville scored the game’s first points when Brody Birchfield scooped up a fumble on Paintsville’s first play from scrimmage and ran it back 25 yards.
Zac Lockhart hauled in a 14-yard TD pass while running backs Cody Raines and Jon Collum added second-half rushing scores. Raines finished with 88 yards.
Paintsville’s John Walker Phelps ran for 92 yards as the Tigers managed just 153 as a team.
At Kroger Field
(Class 1A championship)
SCORE BY QUARTERS:
PV (11-4)….0 0 0 0 – 0
PK (14-0)…21 7 15 0 – 43
Scoring:
First Quarter
PK – Brody Birchfield, 25-yard fumble return (Tanner Hamilton kick), 11:44
PK – Jackson Hensley, 63-yard pass from Isaac McNamee (kick failed), 8:59
PK – Zac Lockhart, 14-yard pass from Isaac McNamee (Cody Raines run), 2:12
Second Quarter
PK – Jackson Hensley, 15-yard pass from Isaac McNamee (Tanner Hamilton kick), 3:39
Third Quarter
PK – Jon Collum, 4-yard run (Jackson Hensley run), 8:22
PK – Cody Raines, 1-yard run (Tanner Hamilton kick , 1:30
Fourth Quarter
No scoring