Boyle County blasts North Hardin after last season’s OT loss

Published 12:35 am Saturday, September 23, 2017

 

You won’t hear much out of Boyle County for the next couple weeks, so here’s a little something to remember the Rebels by.

Boyle goes into its bye week on its biggest win so far this season, a 56-10 trouncing of North Hardin on Friday at Rebel Stadium.

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Boyle (5-1) scored three times in the first 6:09 to gain the upper hand against North Hardin (2-4), which defeated the Rebels in overtime last year in Mercer County’s bowl. The Rebels went on to score on their first six offensive possessions and seven of eight overall, and they scored once on defense as well.

Reed Lanter threw for 232 yards and three touchdowns for the Rebels. Boyle also ran for 217 yards, led by Tanner Crawford with 73 yards.

North Hardin had 237 yards, but the Trojans didn’t reach the end zone until just before time expired.

Reiley Colwick got the scoring started 80 seconds into the game with a 55-yard touchdown on a screen pass from Lanter, who went 8-for-8 after an incompletion on his first attempt.

Landen Bartleson scored on a 3-yard run about 3 1/2 minutes later, and Hayden Bottoms returned an interception 42 yards for a touchdown four plays later to give Boyle a 21-0 lead. It was the sixth defensive touchdown in five games for the Rebels.

Boyle coach Chuck Smith said he was happy with the Rebels’ strong start and even happier with what happened next.

“I liked the way we were focused and locked in and our guys got after it right away. But the thing I really liked was once we got after it we stayed after it,” Smith said. “In the past we’ve had this tendency to let up for whatever reason, but we didn’t tonight, and that’s the mark of a good team. We just kept the pressure on, stayed focus, stayed locked in, and we ended up putting it away early.”

Crawford scored on an 11-yard run early in the second quarter. Reese Smith got behind the North Hardin defense twice later in the period to catch touchdown passes of 65 and 46 yards that made it 42-3 and triggered the running-clock mercy rule with 6:52 left in the first half.

Grant Hotchkiss, who had not played in Boyle’s first four games as he recovered from a back injury, took over at quarterback in the second half and capped the opening drive with a 14-yard scoring run. Eli Glasscock threw a 29-yard touchdown pass to Cameron Yates in the fourth quarter.

North Hardin scored its only touchdown with two seconds to play on a 14-yard run by quarterback Eric Moore, who threw for 191 yards and ran for 39.

Boyle’s next game is its 3A District 4 opener Oct. 5 at Garrard County.