LONDON — North Laurel continued its play on both offense and defense on Friday, defeating Montgomery County 54-0 in the first round of the Class 5A playoffs.
Senior Ethan Gregory led the way with three rushing touchdowns, while senior Jack Chappell caught both of Hunter Morgan’s touchdown passes.
Chappell’s team will now face Madison Southern in the second round of the playoffs, after they defeated Harlan County, 49-6, on Friday.
“We played very clean tonight,” Chappell said. “We had challenged our kids to execute at a higher level and to play a more disciplined brand of football. I felt like we met those objectives.
“We were able to get a huge first round playoff win, stay healthy and execute at a high level tonight,” he added. “Offensively, I felt like our passing game was much improved as we got several guys involved. We protected well and Hunter Morgan was tremendous. Our offensive line was dominant in the run game and Ethan Gregory had 3 rushing touchdowns. Defensively, we were able to shut them out. We played really hard and really physical on that side of the ball.”
North Laurel dominated the first half with its ground attack.
Gregory’s 14-yard touchdown run in the first quarter gave the Jaguars a 7-0 lead. In the second quarter, Morgan connected with Chappell for a 22-yard touchdown pass, extending their lead to 14-0.
Gregory scored his second rushing touchdown of the game, a one-yarder, making it 20-0.
Morgan and Chappell connected again for a 66-yard touchdown pass, bringing the score to 26-0. Elijah Miller then intercepted a pass and returned it 20 yards for a touchdown, giving the Jaguars a commanding 32-0 lead at halftime.
Gregory added his third rushing touchdown just before halftime, scoring on a four-yard run to make it 39-0.
In the third quarter, Logan Hall scored a nine-yard touchdown run, increasing the lead to 46-0 while Cooper Robinson sealed the victory with a four-yard touchdown run in the fourth quarter, resulting in a 54-point win for North Laurel.
