Friday night’s matchup between defending Class 1 champion Pikeville and Class 3A champion Belfry lived up to all the hype at Hillard Howard Field.
Pikeville (2-0) overcame an eight-point, first half deficit to come-from-behind to knock off the Pirates, 20-14.
It marked the first time Pikeville has won back-to-back games against Belfry since 1999-20. The Panthers won their 16 straight game going back to last year’s title run.
The game was tied 14-all at halftime and the Panthers scored the only points of the second half on Zac Lockhart’s five-yard pass from quarterback Isaac McNamee with 10 minutes, 21 seconds left to play.
McNamee finished 7 for 11 and 98 yards.
Belfry, now 1-1, had scored on their first two possessions of the game but was held scoreless the rest of the way.
Pirate running back Isaac Dixon scored on an eight-yard run in the first period to put the Pirates up 7-0. Dixon had 91 yards rushing.
The Panthers came back and closed to within one at 7-6 on Blake Birchfield’s 2-yard run. Birchfield finished with 124 yards rushing.
Belfry pushed its lead out to 14-6 with one minute, five seconds left in the first quarter.
The key play of the game came when Birchfield scooped up Dixon’s fumble at the 22-yard and retuned it for a score with 5:16 left before the break. His two-point conversion run pulled the panthers even.
Pikeville’s defense held Belfry inside the Panthers 20-yard line with 3:29 to play.
The Panthers are idle next week while the Pirates visit Magoffin County.
At Pikeville
SCORE BY QUARTERS:
BF (1-1)….14 0 0 0 – 14
PK (2-0)…..6 8 0 6 – 20
Scoring:
First Quarter
BF – Isaac Dixon, 8-yard run (Gideon Ireson kick), 6:19
PK – Blake Birchfield, 2-yard run (kick blocked), 2:39
BF – Isaac Dixon, 68-yard pass from Brett Coleman (Gideon Ireson kick), 1:05
Second Quarter
PK – Blake Birchfield, 22-yard fumble return (Blake Birchfield run), 5:16
Third Quarter
No scoring
Fourth Quarter
PK – Zac Lockhart, 5-yard pass from Isaac McNamee (kick failed), 10:21
Next up: Belfry (1-1) at Magoffin County (2-0), 7:30 p.m., Sept. 25; Pikeville (2-0) at Campbell County (1-1), 6 p.m., Oct. 2.