Pikeville continued its march to Kroger Field with a 54-14 beat down of Nicholas County in the Class 1A regional championship game played at Hillard Howard Field on Friday night.
The Panthers, now 12-0, won their 24th regional championship while advancing to host Louisville Holy Cross (11-2) next Friday night with a berth in the title game on the line.
Quarterback Isaac McNamee passed for 197 yards and a pair of touchdowns while running back Cody Raines had 127 yards and scored three touchdowns in the opening half on only five carries as Pikeville built a running-clock lead of 40-0 at halftime.
Running back Carson Wright had four rushes for 80 yards and two second-half touchdowns.
Zack Lockhart hauled in a 15-yard TD pass and Seth Pugh added a 66-yard TD reception.
Peyton Boyd-Blair picked off a pass and returned it 25 yards for a touchdown.
At Pikeville
(Class 1A regional championship)
SCORE BY QUARTERS:
NC (9-4)….0 0 8 6 – 14
PK (12-0)..19 21 7 7 – 54
Scoring:
First Quarter
PK – Cody Raines, 27-yard run (kick failed), 8:04
PK – Cody Raines, 76-yard run (conversion failed), 2:14
PK – Zac Lockhart, 15-yard pass from Isaac McNamee (Tanner Hamilton kick), :00
Second Quarter
PK – Peyton Boyd-Blair, 25-yard INT (Tanner Hamilton kick), 10:30
PK – Seth Pugh, 66-yard pass from Isaac McNamee (Tanner Hamilton kick), 7:57
PK – Cody Raines, 11-yard run (Tanner Hamilton kick), 5:50
Third Quarter
PK – Carson Wright, 1-yard run (Tanner Hamilton kick), 9:02
NC – Cain Saucedo, 3-yard run (Troy Davis pass from Tyler Horn), :08
Fourth Quarter
PK – Carson Wright, 40-yard run (Trey Hancock kick), 9:53
NC – Michael Tibbs, 3-yard run (conversion failed), 3:40
Next up: Pikeville (12-0) vs. Louisville Holy Cross (11-2), state semifinals, 7:30 p.m., Nov. 29.