A mix of a solid defensive effort, and a solid offensive effort turned out to be the winning formula for Whitley County on Friday.
The Colonels fell behind 8-0 but never bent on either side of the ball.
They scored 28 unanswered points to pick up their first win of the season, a 28-8 victory, over Harlan County.
Zeke Eier’s squad will go on the road Friday with a tough road matchup against Bell County while the Black Bears will travel to play red-hot Knox Central on Thursday.
With both teams turning things up a notch on defense in the first quarter, Harlan County found the end zone in the second quarter, scoring on a touchdown run while adding the two-point conversion to take an 8-0 lead with 6:32 remaining in the first half.
The Colonels didn’t trail for long.
Tye Hamblin marched Whitley County’s offense down the field to tie the contest at eight apiece after an eight-yard touchdown run, combined with Mason Croley’s two-point conversion with 3:17 remaining.
Jaxon Storms grabbed an interception on the Black Bears’ ensuing play but the Colonels didn’t capitalize on the miscue as the game went into halftime tied at eight apiece.
After holding Harlan County on defense, the Colonels took their first lead of the game with 7:56 remaining in the third quarter behind a 54-yard touchdown pass from Hamblin.
Hamblin’s touchdown pass was a prelude to things to come as Croley scored on a 29-yard touchdown run to give Whitley County a 21-8 lead with 1:01 left in the third quarter.
An interception returned for a touchdown by Sam Haynes wrapped up the Colonels’ 28-8 win.
